Killer Stalker
by Looka'sMagicHell
Summary: What - or who - is haunting all mediators and seeking their deaths? And why? Does Suze's life and all the other mediators depend on that question's answer?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter one**_

I walked through the darkness. There was nothing but trees, and I hoped there was no poison ivy. Because that is one of the reasons of why I prefer staying indoors.

I walked closer into the darkness, not sure what I was looking for. All I know is that I've been having a lot of hints to come to this place. And let's just say it's not the regular place a normal sixteen-year-old-teenage girl should be.

I was at the cemetery.

And it was one of the freakiest places to normal people, especially when you visit it when it's past midnight. But to me, it was the place where I can relax. Because the dead don't usually hang around their graves. They usually like to hang around other places, watch civilization pass by.

But I wasn't here to relax. I was here on a mission. What was I looking for? I really have no idea. All I know is that I've been having weird signals from wherever I go, telling me to come here.

I entered the dark clearing, searching for anything other than the headstones. There was nothing there, of course. Nothing but headstone, headstone... and look at that, another headstone.

I kept on walking until I reached the center of the cemetery. I looked around me, making sure if anyone was around.

Nothing.

I tried hearing if there was anything, but all I could hear were crickets.

The fog was blurring most of my view, and licking my heels. Jesse wouldn't like this. You know the whole me-going-to-the-cemetery-alone-at-midnight thing. But that was why I didn't tell him.

I heard a footstep on the grass underneath me.

I held my breath. Who would be coming at the cemetery at night in an hour like this? Well, someone other than me?

I slowly turned around. I didn't know who I should have expected. A sad ghost looking for help maybe. Or Jesse, having sensed I was up to no good, as usual.

But it was none. The part of the ghost yes, but the sad part, hell no.

Because when I turned around, a tall figure was standing in front of me. He looked so freaky, that I let out a gasp. And the freaky part wasn't his freakishly huge figure, that was covered with a black outfit, or that he had a knife in his hand. No, it was his face, because there was no face. I'm not kidding, no meat, so skin, nothing. The thing in his face was his...

His skull.

My mouth dropped. I was all like, 'Oh My God!'

Was that guy burned before he died or something? Or was he an experiment to see how a skull-faced guy grosses the hell out of people?

"Oh my God," I quietly shrieked under my breath.

"What are you looking at?" he asked in a hard voice. I wasn't sure he was talking, on account of his missing lips. His teeth covered the places where his mouth should have been, unmoving.

As if he'd been shocked for the first time, he said. "So _you're _the mediator? Aren't a little bit too female?"

I was offended, I was taken aback, and I wanted to kick him. But I couldn't very much move a muscle in my body, and don't tell me that even the dead have feelings. I mean, come on! He looked like a cartoon character! But the evil scary one.

My eyes were wide open, and I was gaping at the scariest looking ghost I had seen in all my life as a mediator.

"Who are you?" I was able to choke out. "And what's your problem?"

The skull-faced ghost took two steps towards me.

"And why should I tell you that?" He demanded, he didn't have lips, of course, so I couldn't know whether he was angry or with a bit of amusement in his voice. Though, I thought I heard a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Because I'm the mediator," I explained, though I was sure he didn't need explaining. "And I need to know who you are to help you." Moron, I added mentally.

"Hmm," Skull-face wondered, his red eyes resting on me. "Tell you who I am, and let you help me? Or keep my information to myself and help myself?"

Okay, what? And how can he help himself, smarty pants? If he hadn't realized, he's a ghost, and no one other than me can see him (okay, no one other than me, Father Dom, Jesse and Paul can see him).

"Um," I said. "I don't think that's possible, because only I can see you."

"Ah," He said, while taking another step towards me. "That's exactly what I needed to know."

Before I had the chance to even blink, skull-face was one step farther from me. I slowly started backing away – not because I was scared, just taking a precaution – as he started taking steps closer to me.

"What do you want?" I asked as I kept on backing away. That wasn't possible though, because when he was a good four feet away from me, a headstone blocked my way back. I looked down at the headstone. 'John Richards', the headstone said. Okay, if I ever meet his ghost, I'm going to kick him. Even though he didn't choose where he wanted his headstone. But I didn't care, because if this ghost coming towards me didn't back off, I'm going to have to tell him the hard way. And by hard way, I meant a little good butt-kicking.

"Listen, you," I warned. "Don't even think about it. I'm warning you, pal. There's more to me than you see."

He was only two steps farther away from me now. Call me crazy, but I could swear that I saw the corner of his teeth twitching, trying to form a grin.

"I know," he agreed. "That's exactly why I must destroy you."

Before skull-face can very much touch me, I leaped away from the headstone and landed on the grass. Skull-face, instead of stumbling on me, crashed into the headstone I had been leaning on. I quickly stood up, and started running towards my mom's car. Apparently, that huge skeleton meant business. And I know who to do that business with.

I quickly drove out of the cemetery, and started heading home.

The skull-faced guy kept on appearing behind my eyelids whenever I blinked. It was empty on the streets today. I suddenly noticed a sign that wasn't there before, a sign that read the numbers 9213. I don't know why that sign caught my attention, but I suddenly stopped focusing on the road in front of me, and looked at the sign. It was the first time I saw it. When my eyes rested on the road for a second – to make sure I was going the right way – when I saw him – skull-, I mean. I was so shocked, that I stomped on the brakes so hard, that the car made car tracks on the ground, going sideways. I quickly shoved my brunette hair off my eyes. I quickly untied my seatbelt, and shoved my hand to the door knob. I tried opening the door, but it was locked, and wouldn't open. I pushed a few more times, it was stuck.

When I turned to my right side to see if the passenger side door is unlocked, and was shocked to what I saw. The skull-faced ghost was sitting right next to me on the passenger seat. He was looking at me evilly, his eyes redder than ever.

I let out a shriek of fear. I quickly pushed through the door, and smashed it open. I was sent flying out of the car, and landing on my stomach on the hard stone ground.

"Ew," I muttered to myself as I lifted my face from the dirty ground. I looked behind me, and the skull-faced ghost was walking confidently towards me. I was on my hands on knees, crawling as fast as I can. I quickly stumbled to my feet, and started running towards the car.

Skull-face was still walking towards me, seeking my death, it appears.

I hopped in the car one more time, and started driving towards my house. It felt as if I hadn't lifted my foot of the pedal until I was in front of my driveway.

I quickly pushed through the back door – having forgotten my keys – and entered my house. The only one who woke up was the house dog, Max. He lifted his head from the couch, and seeing it was me, he got back to sleep.

I quietly tip-toed up the stairs, and entered my room. I pushed my sneakers off my feet, and stumbled to bed. Were Father Dom and Jesse in for news next morning. And I wasn't really sure what that news was.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

"I'm telling you Father Dom," I explained the next day at school. "There is something weird going on."

I was in Father Dominic's office, explaining to him what I thought. Though, I wasn't going to tell him about the skull-faced ghost. He wouldn't like the idea of me going to cemeteries at night. Especially when it's for seeking trouble. I skipped that part, and went straight to the part of the weird signs.

"I see them everywhere," I kept on explaining. "At school, on the way home, even in my dreams. Why can't you believe me?"

"Well," Father Dom started explaining, pushing his glasses higher up his nose. "You are just imagining things, Susannah. You need to get some sleep at night."

I groaned and sunk in my chair. This was hopeless. Father Dom thinks I'm crazy, I've been trying to make him believe me all afternoon. But ended up with nothing, he was so stubborn about this.

"Then how do you explain all what's been happening to me?" I asked. "If I'm pretending?"

"Because," this was Father Dom's tenth explanation, and yet the same one as always. "You probably don't sleep well at night, and you're just imagining things."

I let out a sigh. There was no reasoning with him. And no matter what I do, it'll stay like that.

"Now," Father D. was getting out a few papers out from his drawer. "run along now, Susannah. I have a lot of work to do, and you have school to attend."

"Fine, but this conversation isn't over yet." I said before slipping out of the chair and going out of the office into the breezeway. I made my way over to the cafeteria, and sat on any empty table I could find. The cafeteria was empty – since class wasn't over yet, but because I was at Father Dom's office, I was good being here – and the sun was shining on the top of the breezeway.

I set my arms on the table, and rested my chin on them. I thought about the strange signs, and the ghost of yesterday. I was thinking of sneaking back to the cemetery tonight, try and figure out what's going on. But this time – unlike yesterday – I'll be ready.

I was in my daydream, when some noise interrupted me. I lifted my head from my arms, and looked over my shoulder. And guess who was sitting in his wheelchair staring at me?

Doctor Oliver Slaski – AKA Mr. Slater, Paul's grandfather.

I quickly got up, and went over to him.

"Dr. Slaski?" I asked questioningly. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

Dr. Slaski had a concerned expression on his face. He moved closer to me, which made me have to lower my head at him.

"Did he get to you yet?" He asked which caused a confused expression to flow across my face.

"What?" I asked. "What are you talking about, Dr. Slaski? Who hadn't come to me yet?"

Dr. Slaski looked confused for a moment, but, as he saw the bruise on my arm (The one I had got yesterday – thanks to skull head – when I was thrown out of the car) the confusion disappeared, replaced my concern.

"When did it happen?" He suddenly asked. "Did he even try to hurt you? What did he tell you? And why –"

"Whoa, whoa Dr. Slaski," I had to interrupt. "What are you talking about? Who came to me? Can you please explain?"

Dr. Slaski sighed, before taking a deep breath.

"You have to watch your back from now on," he warned. "There is a dangerous ghost on the loose, and he seeks what no other ghost can seek. You must tell the others, and warn them before anything bad happens."

"What does he look like?" I asked, suddenly interested. "The dangerous ghost, I mean? And what exactly is he after?"

Dr. Slaski grimaced as a small watch started buzzing from around his wrist.

"We don't have much time," he was starting to get transparent now. What was going on? "I used a transporter watch to get here. You must be careful, and you have to get rid of him. And fast."

The next second, he disappeared. Just like a ghost would have. But a ghost wouldn't do that, unless it didn't need my help, or was trying to be annoyingly mysterious.

I let what Dr. Slaski sink in for a moment. I didn't know what to think, or even how to think. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I knew what Dr. Slaski was talking about. And I think he was talking about skull-face from last night.

Which was who I was going to have a word with tonight. After I go see Jesse, who was going to pick me up after school today. Which gladly after a few more hours, was over.

Jesse was there to pick me up, as always. He had opened my door for me, and I entered his rented car gladly.

"Hi, _querida_," he said gently as he came to the driver's seat, started the engine, and started driving towards my house. "How are you feeling? Are you alright? You look a little pale."

"Just tired," I replied. It was true though, I _was _tired. But it wasn't the main reason of why I had my head full of confusion clouds. Jesse must have seen that, since he slowed down, parked the car, and folded his arms across his chest.

"Susannah," he said, using that tone of his to make me confess whatever it is I have to confess. I gave in easy this time, because I was going to tell him anyway.

I explained to him everything, only leaving out the cemetery scene. He wouldn't like that as much as Father D. wouldn't have, a sixteen-year-old girl at a cemetery after midnight. Totally typical for teenage girls.

After I was finished, an amused grin appeared on his face, and he raised his eyebrow. I thought he was mocking me, I really did. Because after a second, he burst into laughter.

I let out a frustrated sigh, and folded my arms across my chest. This was so not going to end, was it? Because I'm sick of people not believing me like this! It is so annoying, and it makes you feel like a complete fool who believes in Santa Claus.

"Okay, you can stop laughing now," I finally said after leaving him laugh for a few moments. I was seriously annoyed now, having no one believe you and your boyfriend laughing at you. "And why the hell doesn't anyone believe me? I'm not an asshole, for goodness sake!"

"No," Jesse agreed after he calmed down. "But that is ridiculous what you're saying, Susannah. You must be imagining things these days."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "I'm not imagining things, Jesse." I pulled my face from my hands. "How do you explain Dr. Slaski's visit today? And how come have I only got these feelings? Why me?"

Jesse smiled at me sympathetically. "Maybe you aren't sleeping very well at night. You need your rest. And that is exactly what you're going to get."

He put the car into drive, and started towards my house again.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him as I recognized the road. I groaned as he pulled up at my driveway.

"Why can't we go somewhere tonight?" I mumbled as I untied my belt, even though if I started this fight he'd win it easily.

"Because," Jesse had gotten out of the car and was coming towards my door to open it for me. "You need to rest. Your head is in a lot of places at the same time. Which worries me a little, so you need to sleep."

"But it's still six thirty in the evening," I complained, getting out of the car. "Are you expecting me to sleep now?"

"No," he said as he pulled me closer to his side. "Just say you invited me to dinner, I'll keep you occupied for a while, until you are tired and will force you to go to sleep."

"You are an evil genius," I mocked, but unable to resist the urge to kiss him. Life with Jesse had gotten better and better.

We kissed for a few more seconds, and then Jesse pulled me away and started walking towards the house again. We entered through the door, and Andy didn't bother having Jesse stay for dinner, as usual. We ate happily, making more conversations than usual. Me, because I was nervous all of a sudden. Jesse, because he was always excited to hear what twenty-first-century people chat about these days. Mom and Doc – David, but known as Doc to me – because that was just who they were. Andy was bragging about his cooking, and Dopey – Brad – and Sleepy – Jake – weren't really all that interested in what we were saying.

After a nice meal, I went and stood on the porch, drinking a diet coke. I felt someone wrap his arm around my waist, and there is no one here who can do that except Jesse.

"Hey," I greeted him, looking away from the glimmering stars that were up in the dark sky and staring at his breathtaking brown eyes. "Are you ready to believe me yet, or are you still going to make fun of me?"

"Susannah," Jesse sighed. "I am not making fun of you, I'm just worried."

"What are you worried about?" I asked. "I'm standing right here in front of you."

A small smile appeared. "I know, but sometimes you make me anxious. Just promise me one thing tonight."

"Anything," I felt a smile creep across my face too.

"Sleep well tonight."

I thought about that for a moment. I'm not going to sleep at night, but I might give it a try. At least, that's what I wanted Jesse to think.

I crossed my fingers behind my back, and replied, "Fine, I will, I promise."

He pulled me closer to his chest, and held me in a tight hug. I quickly uncrossed my fingers before he can see them. He pulled me into a quick kiss before pulling me back into the house. Jesse said his goodbyes after a while – which I never wanted to happen – before he left. I was so damn tired; after all, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. And I won't get any sleep tonight either. But I wanted to get some Zs before I go on my mission tonight – okay, I sounded like Kim Possible there, spooky. But I figured I autta get some sleep anyway, rather than sleepwalking at night. And that's exactly what I did then.

I went upstairs, changed into my pjs, and went right to sleep.

***

_Beep…beep…_

Stupid alarm clock. I slammed my hand over the damn clock, and moaned in exhaustion. I quickly flung to my feet, and went to my bathroom. After brushing my teeth, washing my face and wore my ghost-butt-kicking-outfit, I was ready to go.

I flung myself from my window to the porch roof, and landed quietly on the grass. I sneaked to the garage, and entered the Land Rover. I quickly drove to the cemetery, but this time I was ready. I had my weapons – an axe, a hammer, a pick, some of Andy's tools – with me. It reminded me of the night when I was armed with the same weapons when I was trying to protest myself from Maria de Silva, when Jesse was still a ghost.

I drove through the empty streets, until arriving a few minutes later at the cemetery. I pulled over, and quietly went again to the familiar graveyard. I looked around the clearing, searching for anything other than the headstones.

I saw something after a while of search. Something like teeth emerging from a skull.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter three**_

I quickly walked towards the light I saw. But I wouldn't deny that I had a really bad feeling about this.

I walked near a headstone that was hiding under some bushes. Another light caught my attention.

"Get out," I said without thinking. "I know you're here…who ever you are."

I got a glimpse of light from something behind me, something that was materializing. I quickly turned around with a gasp. Skull-face was standing there, staring at me with an amused face, though I didn't say anything stupid. Yet. I took a deep breath – just calming myself – and put on my professional face.

"Okay," I started. "Who are you? And what do you want? And why are you 'too dangerous to be around?'"– I made the stupid quotation marks with my fingers in the air –"Do you think you can answer that every once in a while?"

Skull-face looked more amused right now. Though I'm not really sure how I noticed that since his face was a skull. Sometimes I just see through people. But this was weird, because I could swear I saw the edge of his cheekbones – and I literally mean cheekbones – twitch. He started circling me, and I was eying him carefully.

"And why," he finally asked. "Should I have the honor for your presence tonight, Susannah Simon?"

I gasped. What the hell? How did he know my name? Was he stalking me? Worse, was he falling madly in love with me and trying to make himself charming?!

Okay, I'll admit it, I officially lost it. Because it's not everyday you go visit a skull-faced ghost, who happens to know your name and why you're here. Was he a stalker before he died? And how'd he die, anyway?

"How did you know my name?" The words flew out of my mouth. "And how'd you die? From a fire or something?"

The ghost didn't let my words bother him. He kept on circling me, ignoring me when I tried to back away.

"Stop moving," he finally said. "You will ruin the effect."

Okay, from that point, I knew he was a stalker. And obsessed stalker. But I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. He didn't like me at all. In fact, I think the reason he did what he did next is because he truly hated me.

Skull-face quickly caught me in what I thought was a hug – which would have been kind of weird – and threw me right next to the car. I landed painfully on the grass, a stab of pain flowing through the right arm I fell on.

"Now," skull-face was saying as he walked gracefully towards me. "You will stay here like a good mediator, and say hello to your death."

And again, before he can do anything, I quickly got up, and ran into the car. I wasn't going to make any stops now.

As I started the engine, I saw in the mirror that skull-face was still following me. But thank God this time, he didn't materialize in the car.

I arrived safely at home, and parked the car in the garage as if it was there all the time. I went up the stairs quietly, and entered my room. When I was safe inside, I undressed from my black leather jacket, and looked at my right arm.

It was cut. Great. Thanks again, skull-face. I quickly went to my bathroom, and got out a bandage. I'm not going to say that I have any idea in how to fully heal this cut, but having Jesse studying to be a doctor was great help. I carefully wrapped the bandage around the cut in my arm, and turned off the bathroom lights. I entered my room, and collapsed on my bed. My eyes quickly closed, and I fell deep in my sleep.

***

"Hello? Earth to Suze," CeeCee said in my ear. I was at the school cafeteria, having lunch with CeeCee and Adam. Or at least, I thought I was.

"Hmm," I said stupidly. "I'm sorry, CeeCee, what were you saying?"

"I was saying," CeeCee explained. "That you are starting to freak me out, Suze. Where is your brain these days? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm fine. I'm sorry, just a little tired."

CeeCee eyed me quizzically. She has this thing about knowing whether I'm lying or not. And I wasn't lying, I was tired. I wasn't able to sleep at night thanks to the pain in my arm.

"Are you sleeping with someone?" Adam suddenly asked. Me and CeeCee stared at him.

"What?" he asked when he saw our stares.

"Adam, are you sure you didn't get hit on the head, or something?" CeeCee asked. I couldn't help smiling at her observation.

"Nope, but I have been saving up my jokes for someone else," Adam grinned evilly at CeeCee. Okay, they were talking their language, and it was my cue to leave.

"Alright," I said, getting up. "I'll leave you kids alone."

I walked away from the table, and walked through the Mission's empty breezeway. This was a good place to think.

"Hey, Suze," a familiar voice asked from behind me. I groaned, and turned around.

"What do you want, Paul?" I asked, annoyed. I wasn't in the mood for this. "I'm not really in the mood today. So can we talk about whatever it is you want to talk about later?"

Paul walked over to me, closing the distance between us. He was two steps away from me now, but he didn't wear the grin he usually did.

"My grandfather mentioned he talked to you yesterday," He got right to the point. "What was he talking about? I got a little curious."

"Nothing," I replied after a second of thought. I already got Father Dom tired of me, and made Jesse laugh at me. I didn't need Paul to do that too.

"Nothing?" Paul echoed. "So you're saying that he used a transporter watch to come here, and tell you nothing?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" I mumbled.

"Uh, yeah." Paul was on to me now, and then I had to just give up and tell him.

"Why is your grandfather so worried?" I started. "He says there's a vengeful ghost out there somewhere, and that he wants what no other ghost does. I'm still kinda working out what he meant."

Paul had a puzzled expression. He let what I said sink in, and I thought he was thinking that his grandpa was crazy all over again. But instead of laughing at me, or telling me I was crazy, he just said, "Gramps got to you too, didn't he?"

"What?" I asked stupidly. But I appreciated him not laughing at me. "He said that to you too?"

"Yeah," Paul replied. "But I wasn't expecting you to believe him. I didn't."

"But, Paul, haven't you seen anything weird going on?" I had to ask. "I mean, I have, Father Dom and Jesse have too, but they're in denial. Please don't tell me you are too."

Paul's grin appeared. "Wonder boy doesn't believe you, huh? Sounds like there's trouble in paradise."

My mouth dropped open and I raised an eyebrow. I felt like kicking him. But I held myself together, because cafeteria time was over, and students came rushing in the breezeway.

I walked past Paul, and headed to my next class.

***

"This is so good," I commented as I stuffed a piece of chicken through my mouth. "You're a great cook for a guy from 1850."

I was on a date with Jesse, and we were having dinner on the roof of the building where Jesse has a rented apartment. Jesse had cooked the meal, and I had to admit it was delicious.

"Thank you," Jesse said as he too, stuffed a chicken down his throat.

"This is amazing," I said as I stared from the roof to a party being held in the next building. "I never knew they held parties there." I pointed at the building across from where we were.

"Happens almost every week," Jesse explained, seemingly bored. I looked deeply into his deep brown eyes.

He leant closer to me, and pressed his lips against mine. I couldn't resist the feeling of his kiss, so I kissed him back.

He only let go of me when he heard slow song playing form the building ahead. I watched him get up, and help me up.

"Dance with me, _querida_," he didn't wait for my answer. His hands started encircling my waist. I slipped my hands around his neck, and started swaying with the music. I was wearing my black, above the knee dress, and was wearing my brown hair down.

"You look beautiful tonight," Jesse whispered in my ear. I pulled my face from where I was resting it on his shoulder, and kissed him. We kissed as we swayed, and the music was so peaceful and enchanting.

When Jesse let go of me, we kept on swaying, and I rested my head on his shoulder. I felt him play with my hair, and I played with his hair as I held his neck.

"Jesse?" I asked as I pulled my face from his shoulder.

"Yes, _querida_?" He pulled away and stared at my face.

"Do you really think something weird is going on?" I went right to the point.

"_Querida_," Jesse sighed.

"Jesse, I'm serious," I insisted. "Don't you think that maybe someone is trying to send you signs, for you to go to him?"

Jesse narrowed his eyes. I knew it; I knew he was in denial. Because from the look on his face, he has been receiving similar signs as me.

A smile spread across my face. "Ah ha! I knew it! I knew I wasn't crazy."

"No, you're not," Jesse had a smile creeping across his features as well. "But you have to admit it, it maybe some ghost who needs help, but doesn't know how to ask right."

"Oh, it's a ghost alright," I muttered under my breath.

"Susannah?" Jesse said strangely. "How do you know whether it's a ghost or not? Where did you…"

After thinking about it, he figured out how I knew. I had to grin nervously when his expression was formed into a grimace.

"Susannah," he had stopped dancing now, and held my face between his hands. "Did you go the cemetery last night?"

"Maybe," I replied, a little nervous. "Maybe not."

Once I saw how angry he was, I quickly added, "But Jesse I had to go. The signs were driving me crazy. And I'm not hurt. I mean, I won't deny that he tried attacking me, but I was ready. And even Dr. Slaski warned me, so it has to be true –"

"The ghost did what?" Jesse cut me off midsentence.

Oops. I shouldn't have mentioned the-ghost-attacking-me part. Because Jesse looked like he wanted to rip the guy's head off. If he could bear touching him, I know I'm too disgusted to touch a skull. Especially if that skull's a ghost.

"Well," God, how was I getting out of this one? "Dr. Slaski says he is dangerous. And that we should either get rid of him, or try and avoid him. But I go with get rid of him, because he seemed to mean business."

"You're not doing anything now, Susannah," Jesse said. "Because the ghost has no reason to try to hurt anyone. Just leave that to me and Father Dominic to find out, okay?"

I was forced to agree. I didn't want to, but this was Jesse, he forced me to say yes. God, I hated it when he did that.

So my next stop was home, and I was also forced to swear I'll go to sleep this time. I didn't argue much about the sleep part, I was beat.

When Jesse drove me home, he was talking with Father Dom all the way. Father Dom also didn't believe me, as usual, but agreed to go to the cemetery with Jesse after he drives me home.

Jesse gave me one last quick kiss before he left me go to up the stairs of the front porch.  
I went up the stairs to my room. I entered the bathroom and decided to take a shower. I opened the hot water, undressed, and relaxed as my body sunk in the water's smoothness.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter four**_

_I walked through a dark hallway. There was nothing but the bright stars up in the dark sky. But something else appeared in front of me, something like a big screen. I found myself numbly walking towards the screen. Light suddenly shot out of the huge screen, like a movie starting in a cinema. The screen flickered to life, and a beach scene filled the air. It was a peaceful view, until I thought I heard scary music playing. And I'm not kidding, scary music. And I found out why after a second. _

_A girl – with blond hair and emerald blue eyes – walked through the beach, realizing for the first time that it was empty. She called a name, and waited. Nothing happened. She tried calling again. But now, not only some more spooky music started playing, but someone _materialized _behind her. She quickly turned around with a gasp at the ghost standing behind her._

_"Are you the mediator?" The ghost asked. She couldn't see his face because it was covered with a cloak. _

_The girl helplessly nodded, as if she didn't even want to be a mediator. The ghost started encircling her, his hands behind his back. Wind blew the girl's hair over her eyes, and she had to talk then._

_"Who are you?" the girl asked confidently. "What do you want from me?" _

_"All I want," The ghost replied. "Is to see your death, Jennifer Gordon."_

_Jennifer gasped, and before she could even twitch, the ghost had a knife to her heart. Jennifer was trembling from fear, and she was sweating and panting hard._

_"All mediators, shall die," Were the ghosts last words before he sliced the knife into Jennifer's chest, and sent her collapsing on the sand._

_I gasped when the ghost revealed his face. He was the skull-faced ghost. _

_I suddenly felt arms wrapping around me, and dragging me along with him. I screamed as I tried to hit him, but the grip he was holding me in was like iron. I was able bang his foot hard enough for his grip to weaken. I held his hands, and ran from under them while I had the chance. When I was free from his hold, I turned around to look at him._

_Yep, he was skull-face alright. He straightened up the minute I was out of his hold. _

_"What are you?" I growled. _

_"I am all the mediators' killer," Skull-face said before he lifted his hand and signaled someone. The next thing I knew, the floor beneath me no longer existed._

_And I fall._

I quickly rolled over my bed, and my eyes snapped open. Okay, that was an unwanted dream. I was breathing in ragged gasps, and I felt myself sweating. I tried to calm myself down.

_Just a dream, _I kept telling myself. _Just a dream._

I felt pain rising in my stomach. I put my hands over my mouth and ran towards my bathroom.I quickly put my face above the toilet and threw up. The taste was disgusting in my mouth, and I felt that if anyone smelled my breath they'd faint.

When I was done, I brushed my teeth, because I couldn't bear the taste the vomiting was inflicting in my mouth.

I tiredly walked back into my room, yawning. But my yawn stopped once I saw I had company. My eyes widened, and I took a step back.

Because skull-face was standing two feet away from me in my room.

"Why are you here?" I choked out. "What do you want?"

"As I said in your dream," He replied easily. I gasped, he has to be joking. Seeing my wide eyes, he added, "Or should I say, nightmare."

He quickly ran towards me, and caught me by my arm. He was wearing a glove, thank God, because if he wasn't, I wouldn't have done what I did next. I caught the hand that held my arm, and bit it with all my force. He let go of my arm in pain, and I started running towards the window. Before I could get my foot out, I felt him grip a few strands of my hair. He put his other hand and gripped the back of my black t-shirt, and threw me at my dressing table.

The mirror broke when my body crashed into it, and glass was sent flying everywhere. I landed painfully on the floor, and covered my face with my arms when a few pieces of glass were falling in my direction.

The last thing I saw was skull-face dematerializing, and footsteps coming my way.

***

I heard voices around me. One voice, then another, then another. Some were familiar, and some were barely recognizable.

"How did this happen?" A voice was saying. "How did we not see this?"

"Maybe," another voice said. "Because Wonder boy here didn't believe her."

_Wonder boy…_

I know that voice…

"This is not the time for jokes," voice I loved said. "This is serious. Who is this guy and what does he want?"

"My grandfather says the ghost was an old friend of his," Paul explained. "But died in a fire twenty years ago."

"Do you know his name?" Father Dominic asked.

"Gramps is working on it," Paul explained again. "He said it was a long time when this friend died. All he remembers is that he was helping him in finding out what more things shifters can do, and that he died because of a fire accident twenty years ago. No names remembered."

"Do you know how he looks like now?" Jesse demanded. I heard a pause.

"I don't know," Paul sighed. "From the looks of it, only Suze saw him."

I decided to wake up at this moment. I tried moving my right arm, but a stab of pain shot up my arm. I groaned.

I felt movements around me. Someone slipped his hands through mine.

"Susannah?" Jesse said softly. My eyes fluttered, and I looked at the three mediators in the room.

"Hey," I started. "What's up?"

Paul rolled his eyes, Jesse sighed, and Father Dom gave me a look.

"No, seriously, what's up?" I insisted.

"You were right, you were right," Jesse admitted. I thought about breaking in an 'I told you so!', but it seemed that they are upset enough.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" I asked. "And what's the story am I gonna tell my mom and Andy?"

"Well," Father Dom said. "You could start with the truth."

I looked at him for a second, and then asked, "Okay, any other ideas?"

"There was an earthquake last night," Paul pitched in. "How about that?"

I thought about that. I had no chance to say the excuse out loud for a try because my mom and Andy had entered the room.

"Susie!" my mom yelled with relief as she ran towards my bed. My mom hugged me fiercely, careful not to come near my right arm.

When she let go of me, she asked, "Susie, what happened last night?"

"Um," I was going to have to say the lie without checking whether it's believable or not. "Do you know about the earthquake last night? The big one?"

Mom and Andy nodded.

"Well, it kinda woke me up, and I guess I was too close to the mirror when the earthquake caused it to break." I shrugged. Now that I said it out loud, I noticed how believable it can be. Mom and Andy fell for it, thank God.

The doctor entered, and, seeing I'm awake; he started checking his files, telling me my injuries. It was not serious, though; just a cut in the right arm that needed stitches and some bruises on my stomach.

I was released that day, after a couple of hours. Paul and Father Dominic left, and mom and Andy were persuaded by me to go back to their work. Leaving me and Jesse alone for the day.

We were walking on the beach together, just passing time. We entered a little forest, being alone for the first time. Without any audience around us, I mean.

"So," Jesse started conversationally. "What exactly did happen last night?"

"I really don't know," I explained. "All I know is that the ghost somehow got to my dreams, trying to send me some kind of message. And when I woke up to go to the bathroom, he was just…there. Like he has been there all along, just waiting for me to wake up. And when I did, he attacked like a spider that was waiting for the kill."

Jesse didn't like what he was hearing. His expression turned into a grimace once I said the word attack.

"How does he look like, anyway?" Jesse asked after a moment of silence. "How do we know who he is?"

"Oh," I said, laughing a little. "You'll know when it's him, trust me."

"Give me a hint," Jesse urged, laughing with me.

"You'll have to see him for yourself," I said as I stopped laughing. "But I don't want you to see him, who knows what else he can do?"

Jesse digested that for a moment; and once it had sunk in, his hands clenched into fists.

"It's alright, Jesse," I said, trying to soothe him. "I'm fine; I'm standing right here in front of you."

Jesse smiled as he ran the tips of his fingers down my cheek. "I will never let him hurt you again." He promised. He bent down and kissed my forehead.

"How lovely," a deep voice said from in front of us. Jesse let go of my face, and stared at the figure in front of us. He was wearing the long black cloak, and his face was covered with it.

"How can we help you?" Jesse asked politely.

"Oh, _no_," I gasped. Jesse looked at me through concerned eyes. Once he saw the fear in my eyes as I stared at the ghost, he locked his stare with the ghost, too.

"Is this…?" He muttered to me as his hands clenched into fists again. "But you said I would recognize him because he looked different. How is he different?"

"Oh, just wait," I squeaked. The ghost moved his hands from his pocket and pulled the cloak off his face – or should I say, skull.

Jesse gasped as he saw the ghost in his true form.

"_Nombre de Dios,_" Jesse muttered as he saw the features of the ghost. Oh wait; he doesn't have any features because his face was a skull.

I felt Jesse shift his weight as he stood in front of me. I looked under his shoulder to see what skull-face will do next.

He just… stood there. Skull-face, I mean. He was watching Jesse with serious care, synchronizing every step he took towards him. When Jesse was close enough to launch at the ghost, skull-face suddenly lift his hand in front of his skull, and a blow of energy hit Jesse. Jesse flew right by me, and landed on the floor.

"Jesse!" I shrieked. I quickly ran over to him, and held his arm. He was trying to get up, but the ghost's voice stopped him.

"Enjoy your precious moments while you can," Skull-face said before disappearing.

Jesse and I locked stares with each other. At least now, he fully believed me.

***

"What are we going to do?" I panicked. "We have nothing! Everybody isn't going to come like this!"

I was at school in the gym, trying to solve the crisis in my hands right now. Kelly was back in the gym, a folder in her hand.

"You find anything?" Paul asked her once she was through the door. Kelly flipped a few pages from the file, and smiled at us pleasantly. "The school council agreed to have the theme of the prom Hollywood night!"

I sighed in relief. We have been trying to persuade the council for over a week to agree to this. The prom was the most important event at school now, and it was something I couldn't just forget.

What? Just because there's a ghost haunting all mediators and seeking their deaths, doesn't mean I couldn't worry about my life once in a while! And besides, it was either the theme 'Hollywood night' or 'The country-side'. The school council thought Hollywood night would attract too much attention. But we'll show them how great it can be.

At least, great to everyone but me. Jesse hadn't asked me out to the prom because he doesn't a clue about it, and the fact that Paul's gonna be there. I'm not going to deny that I see him almost everyday – since I was president, with Kelly as my partner, and he was vice-president – but seeing him at prom with a bunch o goo-goo eye with Kelly will just make me throw up.

When the meeting was over, we were dismissed and went back to our classes. I wasn't looking forward to homeroom, because that's when Paul's sitting two seats away from me.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter five**_

I was in Mr. Walden's class, when Sister Ernestine entered and said that Father Dom wanted to see me. I carried my bag, and went gratefully to Father D's office.

"Hey, Father Dom," I greeted as I entered.

"Hello Susannah," Father Dom said. "How are you feeling today?"

"Well," I sat down on the seat in front of his desk. "A little irritated, and relieved. It took the school council forever to agree to the prom theme.

"I meant your arm," Father Dominic said with a little chuckle. "And it's good for you that the council accepted the Hollywood theme."

"So, what's up?" I asked. "Any news about skull-face?"

"I wouldn't know yet, Susannah," Father Dom replied. "Only you and Jesse got to see him."

Yeah, that was kind of true. I saw him because I was the only one who followed the signs, and Jesse saw him when he tried to attack him yesterday. And don't forget Dr. Slaski, he saw him too; skeleton form, and human form. The problem was that he didn't remember who he was. Paul said he was helping him search through his old pictures; though Paul didn't really believe what was going on. He had said that we were all nuts and that he was only helping to get us off his ass.

Yeah, those were his exact same words.

"Well," I said. "Why do you want to see me? Is anything wrong?"

"No," Father D. replied. "Jesse called. He says he won't be able to pick you up today, his schedule is overbooked at the hospital today; so you have to find another way to go home."

"Oh, okay," I muttered. I was a little disappointed, not having to see Jesse tonight. But I knew I'll see him soon. "It's fine. I have to stay at school to rearrange the prom theme, anyway."

"Good," Father Dom said. "Run along now, I have a lot of work to do."

I started to get up. I was at the doorway, when Father Dom stopped me.

"Oh, and Susannah?" Father Dom asked. "Try and watch your back."

I looked over my shoulder and smiled at him.

"Dido," I said before I went outside his office and went to my class.

***

"Okay," I said when I scanned the paper in my hand. "Decorations: Colors: dark blue and gold. Kelly's taking the music and the DJ. Seems like everything is almost ready."

I was at Paul's house in his living room (and for the prom theme decorations _only_), and we were fixing up the decorations we are going to put all over the school. So far, Paul was doing a good job in keeping his hands to himself. Though, I wasn't sure he was only doing that because he's with Kelly now, or that he was just waiting for the right moment to hit on me.

"Third one, done," Paul announced once he was done with the third decoration he was working on.

"This is so boring," I finally complained. "Why can't we just buy the decorations or something?"

"Uh," Paul said, a little bored himself. "Because dear, old Father Dominic only agreed if we didn't spend the entire school money. And this was the only thing we can do that doesn't involve as much money as it usually does."

"Since when were you on the safe-keeping side?" I just had to ask sarcastically.

Instead of telling me the reason, Paul – still keeping his eyes on what he was doing – just sighed and said, "Just go back to work, Suze."

After almost two hours of sitting like this, the last decoration was finished.

"I don't get why we're doing this now," Paul suddenly said conversationally. "The prom is still a week and a half away."

"Because," I explained. "We have to finish everything to get over with it. And besides, we're not going to be the ones who'll hang these things." I lifted up the decoration in my hand – finally finished – and threw it in the box with the others.

"Finally," Paul sighed in relief as he finished his decoration. "Now, you want a cocktail?"

I rolled my eyes at Paul's question, and said, "No thanks, all I want to do is go back home, and get Andy's grumpy side over for the night."

I started to get off the couch, and headed to the door.

"At least let me drive you home," Paul offered as I picked my bag from the hanger beside the door. "You don't wanna feel like you're walking on mushrooms again, do you?"

I shuddered at the memory, and sighed in defeat. But there was absolutely no way I was walking those five miles again. And because it was also almost eight thirty, so it was dark outside.

"Fine," I gave in. "But this is only because there might be a thief out there somewhere."

Paul grinned in amusement. "Good thing you have me then."

"I don't think Kelly will like it if she finds out her boyfriend's trying to cheat on her," That wiped part of the amusement off his face. But he was still enjoying this.

"Let's just go," Paul opened the door and led me to his Mercedes. He opened the passenger door for me – probably just trying to impress me – and I entered the car.

Paul had entered the driver's seat, and started driving towards my house.

"So," I started conversationally. "Have you and Dr. Slaski found anything?"

"Nah," Paul replied. "Still searching; though he didn't have many friends in his pictures. Usually him and a grave or a heliographic brick behind him."

I sighed. Okay, that was great help. Dr. Slaski and Paul should search a little faster, that was for sure.

"Are you sure you knew what you saw?" Paul asked suddenly. "About the ghost, I mean? You don't think someone is trying to just play tricks on you guys?"

"I'm sure I would know if I was imagining a ghost crashing me into a mirror or attacking my boyfriend, thank you very much." I replied, with a little bit of sarcasm in my voice.

"You sure my grandpa didn't play tricks on you?" Paul asked. I stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" he asked when he noticed my stare. "It's just that I don't think there can be anything like that. I mean, why would a ghost want to kill you?"

"Because," I was explaining this for the hundredth time. "He told me in my dream. Skull-face, I mean. He appeared in my room right after I woke up. He even said so himself that he was trying to send me the message."

"But that still doesn't explain why he wants to kill you," Paul insisted.

"Paul, I don't know," I sighed. "He said that he was a mediator killer, or something. Maybe one of us has done him wrong."

"Since when do you pass out a chance on helping a ghost?" Paul looked amused now.

"Paul, I didn't mean us as in you, me, Jesse and Father Dom," God, this was frustrating, why wouldn't he believe me already? "I meant as in another mediator –"

"Shifter," Paul automatically corrected.

"Mediator, shifter, what's the difference?" I almost yelled. I took a deep breath, and started over. "I meant someone who can see and speak to ghosts, Paul," I was talking through gritted teeth. I was going to lose it any minute now. "Someone must have done something to the ghost a long time ago. Can you believe that for a minute?"

"But it still doesn't make sense," Paul pushed on. "Why would he kill all mediators, and why hadn't the other former-mediators' ghosts come and warn us or something?"

"Gee, Paul," Okay, I lost it now. "I don't know, okay? I don't know why anyone would want to kill us. He just does, okay?"

I placed my hand on my forehead, closed my eyes and took deep breaths.

"Suze, if you don't know," Paul yelled back. "Then it can't be true. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that we're not safe anymore?" I yelled back. "Damn it, Paul, nothing pleases you!"

"Get that thought out of your head, Suze, okay?" Paul was still yelling. "Nobody is trying to kill us!"

Paul wasn't paying any attention to the road anymore. His leg was pressing the pedal so hard, that I thought we were moving as fast as lightning.

I was suddenly staring at the road, where a tree stood almost twenty feet away from the car.

"Paul!" I found myself shrieking at him. "Watch out for that tree! Hit the brakes!"

When Paul saw the tree, he quickly put his foot on the brake pedal. But instead of stopping the car from moving…nothing happened. The car was still moving fast, and the tree was getting closer every second.

Paul kept on pressing his foot on the brake pedal, but again, nothing happened.

"Paul, do something!" I shrieked.

"I can't, the brakes won't work!" Paul was still pressing the brakes, but the car was going as fast as lightning.

I moved my arms numbly, and caught the driver's wheel. I stirred it to the right, and we thankfully missed the tree. But it wasn't over. Oh, the brakes were still not working, but the thing that made the car stop was the fence separating the road from a hundred feet high cliff to the sea we bumped in.

The car started losing balance, and we almost fell from the cliff. It was a good thing Paul was heavier, since he was on the side where the road is.

I held my breath as the car was starting to bounce from side to side.

"Any other ideas?" I whispered to him.

"Just one," Paul and I were trying as hard as we can to stay frozen. "Call for help."

Thank God I had finally bought a mobile phone, which helped a lot. I slowly got out my new cell phone, and dialed Jesse's number.

"Hello?" Jesse said after a few rings. "Susannah, is that you?"

"Um," I squeaked. "Hi, Jesse."

"Why'd you call him?" Paul growled from beside me. "Jesse isn't a ghost anymore, remember?"

I mouthed the word "Zip it" to Paul, to Jesse, I said, "Okay, this is going to sound weird, but do you think you can come as fast as you could to…"

I looked for a sign anywhere, then found one.

"To 13th Avenue, and like, now?"

"What's wrong, _querida_?" Jesse asked, anxiousness in his voice.

"Let's just say," I said, trying to get a glimpse of how high the cliff is, but failing when my head added more weight to the side over the cliff. "The ghost chose now to strike again."

I heard Jesse get up from where he was, and quick footsteps.

"I'm on my way, Susannah," Jesse assured. "I'll be there as fast as I can."

_Click._

I put the phone back in my pocket.

"Well?" Paul was untying his belt, and started moving his hand carefully towards the doorknob.

"He said he was on his way," I untied my belt as well.

"Well, that helps." Paul gripped the door knob. He started pushing it to open.

"Uh-oh," Paul whispered.

"Uh-oh what?" I had gone mad now; I was a few minutes away from my death! "How many much more 'Uh-oh's are there besides this 'Uh-oh'? I don't need anymore 'Uh-oh's."

"I meant," Paul had a frightened and pale face. "The door won't open."

I felt my face go pale as well. I was also starting to breathe hard, and my heart was pounding in my chest.

"Well, push harder!" I yelled at him. He did, he gripped the doorknob in a grip like iron, and started pushing. The door moved an inch, but still didn't open.

A reflection in the rear-view mirror caught my attention. I hesitantly looked over to the back seat.

And screamed when I saw who was there.

Skull-face was sitting comfortably there, as if he was there the whole time.

"Hurry, Paul!" I shrieked at Paul. The ghost brought his face closer to me, and suddenly caught my neck and held me pinned to the chair. He got out a knife, and held it to my throat.

"You will die soon, mediator," The ghost whispered in my ear.

"Suze!" Paul yelled once he saw me. He punched Skull-face in the front of his skull, which sent him crashing hard on the back seat. He was still able to hurt me; his knife sliced my left arm as he was sent back to the seat.

The car started to twitch more over the edge.

"Have a nice trip," were the ghost's last words before he disappeared.

"You okay?" Paul gasped. He was breathing as hard as me now.

"I'm fine," I choked out. "Just open the damn door!"

Paul tried opening the door one more time, and thank goodness it opened this time. He quickly got out, but of course he didn't forget me.

"Come one, Suze!" Paul gripped my hands and started pulling me out of the car as hard as he could. But somehow, I wasn't moving from where I was.

"Suze, come on!" Paul was pulling harder. I didn't realize why I wasn't moving until a stab of pain shot up from my knee. I looked at my knee, and realized why.

A big metal stick – Paul used it for hitting unwanted ghosts on the head – was glued to the drawer of the car, and had somehow gotten out, sticking right to my knee. My pants were cut where my knee was, and the stick has somehow managed to cut through my skin.

Blood was dripping from where the cut had opened.

"I can't move!" I yelled to Paul. "My leg is stuck!"

Paul's hands were removed from mine, and Jesse was pulling me as hard as he can out of the car. I saw that the car was about two inches from falling off the cliff.

The stick has given up, and I was sent out of the car. I landed on Jesse on the ground, and I thought I heard the car slipping.

I looked away from Jesse's face, and stared at the car in horror. The wheels were sent off the cliff, and I heard a bunch of crashes, and then a splash.

I was breathing in gasps, and Jesse must have been doing the same.

"Are you okay, Susannah?" Jesse asked me as he started to get up.

"I'm fine," I replied. Though, when I took Jesse's offered hands, I realized that once I stepped on my foot, my knee started to hurt.

"Ow, ow," I hopped in my left foot – the one which was thankfully healthy – and kneeled next to Jesse.

"Are you sure you're okay, Susannah?" Jesse put his hand on my waist, and supported my balance.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just a cut on my knee. And I think the ghost left another souvenir on my arm."

"Come on, let's get you to the car," Jesse supported me as I hopped to his car. Once we were there, I supported my weight on the car.

"You coming, Slater?" Jesse asked Paul. We both looked over to him, and he was staring at the cliff where his car just fell from.

He turned to look at us, a sad expression on his face.

"I'm gonna need a new car," Paul said.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter six**_

"Ow," I cried in pain. "Careful."

Jesse was compressing a wet handkerchief to my cut knee, doing all doctor stuff. He was studying to be a doctor, after all.

"Sorry," Jesse said softly as he gently pressed the handkerchief one last time before he started with the bandage.

Paul wasn't hurt, not as I was. He just had a few marks on his hand from pulling on the doorknob too hard. He didn't need anything, though, just to be careful how he touches things with it. As for Father Dom, he was shocked that such a spirit would have more aggression than Heather.

We were at Paul's house – hey, it was the closest place we could go for Jesse to heal me – and Father Dominic was searching through old pictures with Dr. Slaski.

Jesse rolled the last piece of Band-Aids around my knee, and was done.

"Okay," Jesse got up from where he was leaping, and sat beside me. "Let me see your arm."

I lifted up the sleeve that was covering my arm, and it turns out that the cut was bigger than I thought.

Jesse started putting Mercurochrome on it (God, I hated that stuff).

"Just put a piece of cotton on it," Jesse advised. "I'll be right back."

Jesse got up, and headed over to the bathroom to get more Band-Aids.

"Told you he was out to kill us," I teased Paul, who was sitting a few chairs beside.

He sighed, and said, "Fine, I believe you know. You don't have to rub it in my face."

I grinned in victory. "Pass me that cotton."

He got the piece of cotton from beside him, and instead of giving it to me in my hand; he stuck it hard on the cut in my arm.

"Ow," I said as I pressed the cotton to my arm myself. "You did that on purpose."

Paul grinned, and walked to where his grandfather sat. Paul helped out a little, I was grateful to that. But after a second he went to the kitchen, and was back with a hot dog sandwich in his hand.

We all stared at him as he took the first bite.

"What?" Paul asked with a mouthful. "I'm hungry."

"Sure you are," I said sarcastically.

Jesse came in with more Band-Aids, and started tying them around my cut.

"What are we going to do know?" I asked while Jesse was still working on my arm.

"I honestly don't know, Susannah," Father Dom apologized. "You know we are still working on it."

"I can't find anything here," Dr. Slaski suddenly complained. "Nobody here died when I was with them, and none of them have any grudges against me."

I sighed in frustration. Jesse rolled one last Band-Aid, and said, "I'm done here, anything else?"

I rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, you're gonna make a great doctor."

"Hey, guys," Paul said, his hot dog almost finished. "Stop the goo-goo eyes already, I'm eating here."

Jesse sighed, and I rolled my eyes. I got off the chair I was sitting on, and went over to Dr. Slaski. He had huge piles of paper on the table.

"Whoa," I said once I saw the gigantic pile of paper. "Did your old school send you on a lot of road trips, or are these just made on the computer?"

I heard Father Dom sigh. Jesse came over to where I was standing, and saw my point. There were two piles, though. A huge one, and one with, I don't know, more than a hundred papers, or something.

"Which part is the seen part?" I asked Dr. Slaski.

Unfortunately, he pointed on the part with the smaller papers. My eyes widened.

"And you expect us to find out who the ghost is before he kills us?" I couldn't keep in the question.

"It is our only choice now," Father D. muttered. "You know we have nothing else, Susannah."

"Yeah," I brought a chair next to Dr. Slaski, and searched through the photos with him.

I dug into one of the piles, when something caught my attention. I held the photo in my hand, and scanned it carefully. Dr. Slaski was standing with an anxious expression in front of building. But it was the building that caught my attention.

It was on fire.

"Who's that?" I handed the photo to Dr. Slaski, and pointed at a guy in a hospital bed.

"Oh," Dr. Slaski took the paper from me, and studied the guy's face carefully. "He was one of my assistants. I don't remember his first name, but I think his last name was Howard or something like that."

I took the photo from him, and stared at the guy lying in the hospital bed. There was something about him that caught my attention. I just, don't know what it is yet.

"Can I take this with me?" I asked Dr. Slaski as he was still searching through the pile of paper.

"Be my guest," he replied. "It's not going to help us, anyway."

I shoved the photo into the inner pocket of my jacket. Paul got up and came to the table.

"You autta go home now, Suze," Paul advised me. "Your parents will be wondering where you are at a time like this."

I sighed. God, I hate it when he's right.

"Fine," I got up, and went over to where Jesse was sitting. He got up, and led me towards the door.

"See you guys later," I said, standing in the doorway. "And don't get too depressed about your car, Paul."

Paul rolled his eyes at me, and continued searching through the photos. Me and Jesse entered his car, and Jesse started driving me home.

"Can you tell me," Jesse suddenly started. "Why you're always the ghost's target?"

"Um," I didn't know what to say to that. "I don't know. Maybe because I was the first one to see him."

Jesse didn't like that. In fact, he didn't like anything that put me in danger, so that was understandable.

"Don't scare me like that again," Jesse whispered as he parked the car in front of my driveway.

"I promise," I whispered back. I untied my seat belt, and pressed my lips against his.

When we pulled apart, I let out a sigh, "I guess I better go now, huh?"

Jesse's soft smile appeared on his face. "Yes, I guess that would be the right thing."

I opened the passenger door, and got out.

"Goodnight Jesse," I said.

"Good night, _querida_," Jesse said before I closed the door, and watched him drive off.

***

I was sitting on a dining room chair at my house, and a laptop on the table. I was trying to search for any fire accidents on the internet, yet, came out with nothing.

Jesse was coming over in a few minutes, because he couldn't stand leaving me home alone.

Mom and Andy were at work, Brad and David were at school – they had left me sleep in – and Jake was at his school.

I typed 'Fire accidents twenty years ago' in the label, and pressed enter. The worst thing about the internet is that it can get you a lot of information, but not the information you want to find. That's what I had come up with the last few hours. I had searched almost every site, and came up with nothing.

And the worse thing is that the weather here was like hell. And I mean that literally. It is so hot in here that I'm sweating.

I wiped the sweat attack from my forehead, and concentrated on the screen. A few pictures popped up, and they involved a lot of fire accidents that had more than one person. A lot of names were mentioned, but no Howards here.

I wiped the sweat from my face – God, this was annoying. I was about to pull my hair up in a ponytail, but thought twice before doing so.

I held the back of the laptop with my left hand, but once my skin touched it, I quickly held it back. It was like the laptop was on fire. But I guess that was my imagination.

I put my hands on the keyboard, but the same result. Was it just me, or was the laptop burning hot?

I thought I smelled smoke. I looked behind me at the kitchen counter, and the newspaper was on fire. And really on fire.

I found my self rushing to the counter, and blew as hard as I could to calm the fire. I quickly threw a cup of water to the newspaper. Thank God the fire shut off, and the newspaper was no longer readable. But I had to hold it, yep, it was totally unreadable.

"Once the fire starts, there's no turning it off," a voice said from behind me. I gasped and stared at the ghost.

"That is it," I blew out at him. "What do you want from me?"

"Hadn't you figured it out yet?" Skull-face asked. It was so hard to breathe all of a sudden. It was like my lungs were starting to close up.

"Why are you doing this?" I choked out. I placed my hand on my chest, and tried to catch a breath.

"What part of mediator killer don't you understand?" Skull-face asked. But he didn't leave me time to answer; because once he heard car tracks, he disappeared.

"Jesse…" was the last word I said before I collapsed on the floor.

***

"Are you sure that's what he said?" Jesse kept on asking as he took my blood pressure.

"Yes, Jesse," I replied. "I'm sure."

We were in my room, and Jesse was still taking my blood pressure. The ghost was somehow able to choke me, though I have completely no idea how. It was so weird; it was like skull-face can control fire or something.

Jesse looked at the kit one more time, before removing the bandage off my arm.

"Well, you're okay now," Jesse said, putting the equipment in the box. "I'm not leaving you alone anymore."

He leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the mouth before going to the bathroom to put the box where he got it from.

"What did you say he did?" Jesse asked as he came back in the room and sat beside me on my bed.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I think he set the newspaper on fire. Can ghosts do that?"

Jesse – being a former ghost himself – said, "If the affect of his death included fire, then yes, I think so."

"Great, all we have to do now is find out what the hell he wants from us," I mumbled.

And then, remembering the fire accident, I said, "Don't they have files about fire accidents somewhere?"

"I guess," Jesse replied. "You know I'm still getting used to this century. What's on your mind?"

I thought about checking out those files, but I'll have to do it tonight, when no one's guaranteed to be there.

"Nothing," I replied to Jesse. Though, I think I was getting an idea.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter seven**_

"This is hopeless," I burst out. "We'll never find it."

"Patience, Susannah," Father Dom said. "We will find it soon."

We were at Paul's house again, this time to help Dr. Slaski search through his old document. Father Dom and Dr. Slaski did the easy job, which is searching through his old pictures. As for me, Jesse and Paul, we had search through his old certificates. And it was boring as hell. Father Dom had let Paul skip school to come help us, and I bet Paul was regretting the whole thing now.

We were through a bunch of the certificates, but we still had a huge pile to go.

"Who's Lucas Evans?" Paul asked his grandfather as he was searching through a paper.

"Oh," Dr. Slaski said. "I think I remember him. He was a dear friend of mine. Too bad he died from a car accident."

"Accident, accident," I echoed. "They all died in various accidents. Can't they just die in their sleep? Or die normally?"

I threw the paper I was done reading to the other pile we were done searching.

"Gramps was researching ghosts," Paul shrugged. "They must have gotten pissed off, so they took it on gramps' friends."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Ha ha, very funny, Paul. Now do you think you can shut up and get back to work?"

Paul sighed, and started scanning another paper.

"What did you say the ghost's last name was?" Jesse asked.

"I think it was Howard," Dr. Slaski replied. "But I don't remember what his first name is."

"You really gotta get a brain scanner, gramps," Paul joked. Jesse and I raised our eyebrows at him, and I gave him a kick under the table.

"Ow, what?" Paul muttered. I sighed, and got back to work. This was so boring, that I thought I might pass out.

We sat like that for half and hour, making jokes whenever we can. But the truth was, we were all bored to death. Even Father Dominic admitted he'd rather be decorating the school gym for the prom next week.

But we had no choice but to search through this. At least, the others didn't have a choice. But I wasn't going to sneak off, it was still three thirty in the afternoon, and I didn't need to go at night. Where I was going, I was going to the city council. But to the mini-building they keep in all their old files.

It was a good thing Jesse still didn't read my mind to find out my plan.

Dr. Slaski started rolling himself towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Paul asked him.

"I need to get some air," Dr. Slaski replied. "I'll be back in a while."

We let him go, too distracted with what we were doing.

After a few minutes, we were almost done with the certificates (Oh, thank goodness).

"How many papers did you do?" Jesse asked me.

"I don't know," I replied as threw the paper I finished to the other pile. "I lost count when I finished the fiftieth one."

"Yeah, me too," Jesse threw his paper aside and started reading another.

"This is my hundredth paper," Paul threw the paper he was reading to the pile. Jesse and I stared at him.

"What?" Paul said indifferently. "I want to know whether I'm working fair or not."

I sighed. I scanned the paper in my hand right now.

Name: Laurent H. Austin

Time of death: four thirty in the afternoon

Location of death: Dr. Collin's the therapist's building, in the back office.

Cause of death: a big fire in the building.

"There aren't any Howards in any paper," I finally complained.

"Nothing here either," Jesse joined in.

"Nor here," Paul threw his paper to the pile.

We all let out a sigh of frustration at the exact same time.

Dr. Slaski was back, he rolled his chair until he was at the photo table.

"Had nice fresh air, gramps?" Paul asked. Dr. Slaski let out a _hmph _and started searching through the photographs.

"What's the use?" I asked, frustrated. "We're not gonna find anything here."

"Don't ghosts usually have history in what type they are?" Paul asked his grandpa. "You always used to say that, gramps."

"You're right!" Dr. Slaski slapped his hand on his forehead. "I am so stupid! Yes, yes there is a type for the skull-faced ghost. He's supposed to be called a vengeful ghost; meaning he's a ghost who will only move on until a person he wants to kill is killed. Or, if the person either comes back to life or his type I reproduced, the vengeful ghost will return."

"That's our ghost?" Father Dom asked.

"That's our ghost," Me, Jesse and Paul said at the same time.

"Let's go to the local library," Jesse said as we started to get up.

Paul and I stared at him, Paul with a raised eyebrow.

"The library?" Paul questioned Jesse's suggestion.

"Uh, no offense, Jesse," It was so weird to be on Paul's side. "But don't you think that the library wouldn't be the place to put these kinds of books?"

"You'd be surprised of how old the books might be," Jesse held my hand and started dragging me along with.

"I guess we'll be at the local library," Paul sighed as he joined us at the door.

Paul joined us as we entered Jesse's car.

"Why do you get to sit in the front?" Paul asked me as he slipped into the back seat.

Instead of telling him to shut up, I said, "Because Jesse is not your boyfriend."

We tied our belts, and Jesse started driving to the local library.

"What are we going to search for there?" I asked as Jesse parked the car in the driveway.

"Just look for a really big book with the title "Killer Legends" on it," Jesse replied.

"Have you ever done this kind of research before?" Paul asked. We went up the stairs leading to the door.

"Sometimes," Jesse smiled. "You get bored when you're a ghost."

We entered through the door, and there were a few people there, including Doc.

"Suze?" he asked when he recognized me. "What are you doing here?"

"Just making a little research," I simply replied. It wasn't a lie, either. Doc looked suspicious for a second.

"A research so big that Jesse and Paul have to do it with you?" He asked.

"Well, little David," Paul chose this moment to pitch in. He put his arms on each of me and Jesse's shoulders, and continued. "It's a little emergency, so we need a little privacy, please."

Doc raised an eyebrow, then seeing our uncomfortable smiles, he said, "Um, okay."

He completed whatever he was doing, leaving us alone. I shrugged out of Paul's arms, and Paul didn't need Jesse doing anything.

We walked over to the further side of the library, where an old bookcase stood. We started searching through the old bookcase, but it turned out that all the books are big and old.

"Found it," Paul said as he was getting out a big ruffled book, and set on a nearby table. Dust flew everywhere once the book hit the table.

We let out a few coughs, and shook our hands in front of our face.

Jesse opened the book first, and started scanning it. He skipped a few pages, and stopped at a page.

"Here it is," Jesse stopped at one page, and pointed at one of the lines.

"Let me see," I sat down on a chair beside him, and started reading out loud. "There are many kinds of vengeful ghosts."

"But one kind is highly dangerous," Paul took over the reading. "If the ghost is not moving on because it wants a person dead, then it must appear that it will only move on if he/she is."

"And," I continued. "If the ghost's same enemy comes back to life, the ghost will return."

"If the ghost has killed his enemy," Jesse started. "And still didn't move on, that means there are other people he wants to kill. And kill them, he shall."  
"There is nothing to stop the ghost," I continued over him. "And nothing to bring the people he recently killed, except…"

I read the next lines in silent, and gasped.

"Except if the ghost is crossed over to the other side without will," Jesse read the line out loud. We stared at each other, wide-eyed.

"This'll never end, will it?" I muttered.

"Only if we can take him to the shadowland," Paul thought out loud. "That's what it must mean in the book."

"Please, do it," a weak, small voice said from behind us. We turned the heels of our chairs and looked at who was talking.

And they definitely weren't alive.

Once we saw them, we quickly stood up, and stared at how they looked like.

"You must cross him over, you must," a small, blue skinned woman said. And I'm not kidding, she actually _was _blue. Her used-to-be blond hair was curled, and had ice covered all over it.

"Who are you?" Paul asked.

"We are all victims of the skull-faced ghost," a guy replied. "And you shouldn't be next."

"You're all victims?" I narrowed my eyes and started counting. One, two, three…

Impossible. They couldn't all be victims.

Because there were nine of them.

"You are all mediators?" Jesse muttered. They nodded.

"At least, we were," a tall girl said. But there was also something familiar about her blond hair.

"Wait a minute," I said, remembering. "I saw you before, in my dream."

"Yes," Jennifer – who I know from my dream – agreed. "And the ghost is going to do the same to you if you don't stop him."

"What has he done to you?" Jesse whispered as he looked at each ghost's figure.

"He choke me to death," A tall guy with marks on his neck and forehead said. And he appeared to have struggling marks all over his body.

"He froze me to death," The blue woman said. Oh, so that explains her color.

"He threw me off a balcony," a girl – probably my age, which was seventeen – explained. Her ghost obviously looked like her body when she died. She had dry blood coming out of the back of her head – skull – and her clothes were blood-stained.

"He put a knife into my heart," Jennifer and another two guys said.

"He locked me in a dark basement and left me there without food or water for more than two weeks," a tall and skinny guy said.

"He killed my parents while trying to kill me and that gave me a heart attack," a woman – probably in her late twenties or her early forties – whispered.

"He killed my best friend," a brunette girl whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "Then pushed me off a cliff."

We were speechless. What could we say? They all died in a different way, yet they were all horrible.

"That's…" I was searching for the right word to say. "Terrible." That worked.

"Please," Jennifer said one more time before they all started to fade. "You have to stop him…"  
Then they disappeared.

"I can't believe he would be so murderous," Jesse whispered.

"Yeah," Paul and I agreed.

We all slowly sat back down on our seats, and sat in silence. Maybe it was time to see who that ghost is, and why he's doing this.

Which was why I said what I said next, "I'm gonna go tell Father Dom and Dr. Slaski about the ghost."

I started getting up, but Jesse caught my wrist.

"I'm coming with you," he demanded.

"No," I said quickly. "You stay here and complete the search. Paul's house is only a few blocks away."

Jesse hesitantly let go of my hand, and let me walk to the door. I shot him one last apologetic look towards him, and got out of the library.

The building was a few blocks away, so I didn't have to go that far. But I also had to walk fast so they'd think I went to tell Father Dom and Dr. Slaski.

I entered the building, and realized that it was dark inside. But I managed to see my way through, it wasn't that dark. I went to the front desk, and pressed my hand against the bell.

No one came. I pressed again one more time to make sure no one was there. I looked around, but no one came.

Okay, it was time to sneak.

I walked around the desk, and wandered around the big room. There were shelves and drawers everywhere. This was going to be a bit hard.

I made my way over to a bunch of drawers that had the word 'fire accidents' on the second drawer.

I quickly opened it, and started searching through it. I don't know how many files there were, all I knew is that I was almost giving up hope, until I stumbled through a familiar name.

I pulled out the file, and realized why.

The name 'Laurent H. Austin' was written on it. But between two brackets beside it, the name 'Laurent Howard Austin' was typed.

Oh my God, I had read the paper in Dr. Slaski's house and had totally thrown it away. I am so stupid. This guy – Laurent – was our ghost, and I finally figured it out. But that still doesn't explain why he wants to kill all mediators.

I flipped through the papers, and searched for a reason. A page was missing. But where was it? And did skull-face – Laurent – hide it so I don't figure it out?

As if he had read my mind, Laurent was standing right beside me that next second.

"Now," he said confidently. "You know too much."

"Look," My heart was beating against my chest, and it was hard to breathe all of a sudden. "Laurent, you have to stop this. I can help you."

"I can't stop this," Laurent whispered. But I was sure he had no intention of stopping the murders whatsoever. "I will not rest until all mediators are killed."

He looked into space in front of him, and I thought I smelled smoke. I looked over to where he was staring, and noticed smoke coming through another shelf.

He was starting a fire.

"No, please," I whispered helplessly as I looked back at him.

But instead of taking pity on me, all he said was, "It's too late now, mediator."

And with that, he was gone.

I looked over again to the shelf, and realized that this may be a start of a big fire.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter eight**_

I ran towards the door, hoping I could get out of here. I took the door knob between my hands, and started pulling. But it turns out that Laurent doesn't leave a job without sealing it.

I ran towards any other door, but there was fire wherever I try to go.

I coughed fiercely into my hands; the smoke was getting larger and larger with every breath I took. I quickly ripped a piece of cloth from my white jacket, and covered my nose and mouth with it.

I ran and tried to find anyway out, or at least anywhere safe to stay until the firefighters arrive here.

I heard some noise coming from the shelf behind me. I quickly went there. And let's just say that I wasn't expecting to see that person there.

"Dr. Slaski?" I asked through the piece of cloth. Dr. Slaski had managed to get himself out of the wheel chair, and was lying helplessly on the floor. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He just sat there, doing nothing. He had a tortured expression on his face.

It was only then that I realized that he had a piece of paper in his hand.

"Dr. Slaski?" I tried again as I took the paper from between his fingers. I started reading.

Witnesses in the building: Juana Phillips, and Dr. Oliver Slaski.

Wait a minute…

"I killed him," Dr. Slaski suddenly whimpered when he saw my confused expression. "I killed Laurent."

"No you didn't Dr. Slaski," I had taken the piece of cloth off my mouth for him to hear me clearly. "You maybe have been in the building, but that doesn't mean you killed him."

"But I did," Dr. Slaski appeared as if he was going to cry. "I started the fire. A ghost was going to tell me the secrets of shifters if I killed the therapist, but I hadn't realized Laurent was under these types of medication. So I started the fire, I'm the one who spilled gas everywhere. I'm the one who dropped a burning match onto the gas. It was all me, I killed Laurent Howard."

"You did not kill him, Dr. Slaski," I insisted. "You said it yourself; you didn't know he was in there. It was an accident, you didn't kill him."

"On purpose," Dr. Slaski finished. He coughed fiercely a few times, which made me rip another piece of cloth from my jacket.

"Here," I said as I handed him the cloth. "Take this and cover your mouth. We have to get out of here."

Dr. Slaski hesitated, but he finally took the cloth, and tried to get up. I held him from his shoulders, and tried pulling him up. Even though he's an old man who's usually on a wheel chair, he was doing pretty well.

At least, that was until he suddenly lost balance, and lost consciousness.

"Dr. Slaski, no," I mumbled. I removed the cloth from my mouth and covered his when he started coughing in his sleep. "This is no time for dreaming."

I tried to drag him along with me, but it was so exhausting. I finally balanced his back on a wall behind me. I quickly covered my mouth, and started searching through the shelves for any way out. I pushed a few shelves out of the way, but still, there was no way out of here.

I started coughing hard into the piece of cloth, and my legs gave up underneath me. I crawled back next to Dr. Slaski, and sat helplessly beside him. All there's left to do now was hope that the firefighters would get here soon.

***

Jesse and Paul were still searching through the book. And so far, they found no way to cross the ghost over to the other side. They were starting to lose hope, but Jesse never gave up.

"Find anything?" Paul asked as he flipped through a page of a book of legends that he held.

"No," Jesse replied. "There's nothing here."

"What's taking Suze so long in getting the others here?" Paul suddenly asked.

Jesse had been wondering about that too, but he trust that Susannah will get here once she gets here.

At least, that was until he saw Father Dominic coming into the library.

Paul must have seen him too, since he – like Jesse – got up and started walking towards him.

"Father Dominic?" Jesse asked weirdly. "What are you doing here? Where's Susannah?"

"I thought she was with you," Father Dominic replied. "What is going on here? Slaski said he'd come over here to see what you came up with."

"Gramps?" Paul muttered. "He never came."

They all stared at each other, a confused expression on their faces.

"Maybe he went to the city council's small building," Paul suggested. "He said he'd go there and see if he can find who the ghost is."

"Maybe Susannah bumped into him on the way," Father Dominic Suggested. Jesse relaxed for a minute.

Well, he thought. At least she wasn't alone.

But Jesse's thoughts were interrupted by an alarm system in the library.

"They have alarm systems in a library?" Jesse asked. Paul and Father Dominic stared at the TV screen that suddenly opened.

"There has been a big fire at the council's building," the reporter confirmed. "And firefighters are speeding there way there. And here is Sarah, rushing her way to get there."

They all stared at each other, wide eyed.

"It's true," Jennifer – one of the ghost's victims – said from behind them. "You have to get there quickly. The ghost has chosen to strike again."

"You don't mean…" Paul muttered as he was deep in thought.

Jennifer nodded. "The two other mediators are in there."

Then she disappeared. They shared shocked stares before they quickly rushed through the door.

***

I sank down next to Dr. Slaski, realizing there was no way out of here. And remembering that he was and old man, I quickly covered his mouth with my piece of cloth, and covered mine with my t-shirt.

I looked around the room. The fire was almost closing in on us, and the smoke was bigger than ever.

My head tilted to my side, and I realized for the first time that there was a shelf. But it wasn't the shelf that completely caught my attention; it was the door leading to the basement behind it.

I quickly flung myself off the floor, and started pushing the shelf. But it was no use; it was just so damn big. And at my position right now, I felt weak.

I tried pushing it a few more times, but I fell on the floor when I tried too hard.

"Shit," I muttered in defeat.

A small glimmer caught my attention.

I quickly looked up, and saw that someone was materializing. But thank goodness it wasn't skull-face – damn, his name will take some getting used to.

The ghost's victims – five of them – were standing there, watching me and Dr. Slaski.

They looked over to the shelf I was trying to push; and with a blink, the shelf suddenly fell.

Without pausing, I quickly got up and pushed aside the shelf that was now lying on the floor. I started opening the door as far as I could.

I pulled Dr. Slaski through the door into a small room, and set him gently on the floor. I quickly went over to the door, and closed it as far as it can go.

I let out one last cough, and sat down with a sigh of relief. I saw another glimmer in front of me. I thought it was Laurent, but they were just the five victims.

"You saved my life," I panted as I stood up. "Thank you."

"We just," the blonde, frozen one whispered with a soft smile. "We didn't want to have to see another mediator die."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. It was really the first time I had ever apologized to a ghost because he died. "I wish I could have been there to stop him."

They all smiled softly, and then they dematerialized.

***

"Here," Jesse handed me a bottle of water. I took it from him and sucked greedily. God, being trapped in a building that was on fire makes you thirsty.

I was sitting on the edge of a fire truck, while ambulances were taking care of Dr. Slaski. It turns out that if I hadn't have found the basement door, I would have been a corpse by now.

"He won't like it if he found out I'm alive," I mumbled when I was done drinking. "Skull-face, I mean. Or I guess his real name's Laurent."

"Laurent?" Paul asked as he joined me and Jesse. "That ghost has to have a more frightening name. I like skull-face better."

"Your grandfather," I couldn't help asking as I saw one of the ambulances drive off. "Is he…?"

"Don't worry," Paul reassured me. "He's fine. The hospital's just taking him in for the night, just in case."

I looked at the doctors, who were talking to some of the firefighters. They must be arguing about whether to take me to the hospital or not. And I didn't feel like doing that.

"You did a good job," Jesse suddenly said. "About taking care of Dr. Slaski, I mean."

"Well, I had a doctor to help me," I grinned. Jesse sometimes used to read a few medical books out loud to me. And even though sometimes they annoy me to death, it turned out that they can come in handy.

Paul groaned. "Can't you guys do the romance thing when I'm not in the room? You don't see me doing that with Kelly when you're around."

"Yeah," I said. "That's because I would have paid you not to do it with me around."

Before Paul can rudely reply, a nurse came over to me and took my blood pressure.

God, this was going to be a really long day.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter nine**_

I entered through the door to my house. I was tired, hungry and extremely in need of some alone time. This entire day, I was either with Jesse and Paul, or at the hospital trying to solve the problem we have in hand. All we figured out at the moment was that we just had to get rid of him. Paul suggested time travel, but Dr. Slaski didn't like it. He said I might do the same mistake I did with Jesse.

Hey, that may have been a mistake, but at least I know what would have been if I didn't do it.

Anyway, Jesse drove me home, and wasn't happy with the idea of me being alone again. But as much as it pained me, I had to convince him that nothing will happen to me because of my big stepbrothers.

Ew.

I stepped into the house, and made my way up the stairs. Andy was still preparing dinner, which meant that I wasn't in trouble for the day.

I had been hiding my sleeves from everybody in the house – on account that they were ripped and they were half burned.

I stepped into my room, and closed the door. I quickly searched through my closet, and settled with blue t-shirt.

David came up the stairs and yelled to me that it was time for dinner.

I quickly stumbled down the stairs, and sat with on my chair.

"Hi, Susie," Mom greeted me the way she always does. "How was school?"

Okay, they don't actually know that Father Dom had given me the day off. I had to make anything up, which wasn't a hard thing to do.

"It was fine," was always the right answer.

"How's the prom committee going?" she wanted to know.

"Well, they agreed to let us use the Hollywood theme," I replied. That wasn't even a lie.

"That's good," mom said excitedly.

"Yeah," I took a bite from the delicious chicken Andy had made.

I don't know how long he was there, but as soon as I was cleaning the dishes in the kitchen; skull-face was watching my family.

I dropped the plate I was washing when I got a glimpse of Laurent. It chattered noisily in the sink, and some of the water flew on my t-shirt. But I didn't care. Laurent was right there; I couldn't just stand here and do nothing.

I found myself numbly walking over to where he now stood at the back porch.

"What are you doing here?" I murmured so only he could hear.

"Just watching," he said casually. It was like we were old friends chatting together.

"Well," I found myself confidently mutter. "Get out."

"Oh no," Laurent stood straight, and looked at me in amusement. "Not before I talk to one of them. I especially like the youngest nerd."

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him!" I yelled. Oops, I shouldn't have done that. The ghost waved his hand before dematerializing.

"Uh, Suze?" David asked as I turned around to face them. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I faked a smile. "I'm fine."

Out of nowhere, I found someone jump from behind me, and yell.

I let out a shriek of shock and punched him in the gut.

"Ow!" the freak yelled. And somehow he sounded so familiar. "Suze, what is wrong with you?"

He took off the skull mask he was wearing, and Brad was jumping up and down like a baby.

"You deserve it for scaring her," Andy stood up for me. "Try it on David next time."

David didn't seem to mind. And from the look on his face, Brad has already tried it on him.

Wow, I just hit Brad and didn't get in any trouble for doing so.

But being grounded was the least of my problems. Right now, I had to focus on how to get rid of the ghost.

***

"Why me?" I cried. "Why can't it be Paul for a change?"

I was sitting in Father Dom's office the next day at school. Father Dom had sent Sister Ernestine to get Paul, while Father Dom, Jesse and I try to sort out a way to get rid of Laurent.

"That, I agree with," Jesse pointed out to me. I let out a sigh.

"Speaking of Paul, where is he?" I asked.

Right that second, Paul entered the room.

"Alright, I'm here," He said as he leaned over the chair I was sitting on, his arms crossed across his chest. "What's going on?"

"The ghost attacked again," Jesse started. "Last night it tried to attack me and Father Dom."

"What did he do?" Paul said, sounding a little bored.

"He actually tried to drop a van on top of us," Jesse replied.

"Oh my God," I gasped as I heard this. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Father Dom replied instead. "We are fine now. But the ghost will strike again as soon as he could. That's why we have to stop him."

Okay, now I was mad. Skull-face had tried to kill me, and more that once too. He tried to kill Dr. Slaski; threatened to kill my youngest stepbrother, and now had practically killed Father Dom and Jesse. What else can he do?

Paul's cell phone rang that moment. He looked at the number before lifting the lid and slid the phone onto his ear.

"Hey, dad," he started. "What's up?"

Paul paused as he listened to what his dad was saying. Paul frowned.

"What's wrong?" Paul narrowed his eyes. "You sound…weird."

There was another pause, but this time, we didn't need translation.

Paul's eyes suddenly widened, and his mouth dropped open.

"He's where?" Paul asked, shock in his expression. "What happened? Is he okay?"

"What's wrong?" I mouthed to him.

He ignored me. "Dad, what happened?"

"Jack's in the hospital because a tree almost cut through his throat?" Paul didn't need any urging. But what was he talking about, was he tricking us? Why would Jack be in the hospital?

Then I remembered Laurent.

"Oh my God," I murmured. "Laurent did mean it when he said all mediators."

Paul listened in the phone for another minute, and hung up.

"That's it," Paul muttered when he put his phone in his pocket. "First, me and Suze, then my grandfather, and now my eight-year-old brother. I swear, if skull-face shows up, I'm gonna kill him."

"Too bad he's already dead," I agreed with Paul. "We have to do something."

And that's when we ended up at the front gate of a therapist's building.

"Is this the place?" Father Dom asked.

"This is the place," I replied as I slid the certificate back into my pocket.

"Here goes nothing," Paul took a deep breath. We all pushed the front door, and entered the building.

But it was empty. And I mean, literally empty. Except that there was still the furniture, of course.

We walked through the hallway, our footsteps louder than they ever were.

"Where is everybody?" I whispered, but in this still silence, it sounded like a scream.

"Me and Suze'll search the right of the building," Paul ordered. "Jesse, you and Father Dom search the left."

We went to our positions, and me and Paul were suddenly wandering through a different hallway.

I tried opening one of the doors, but it won't budge.

Paul and I started trying to open any door we come across, but they were all locked. There was only this one door that opened when I tiled the doorknob.

We entered some kind of video room.

"This door had to be open," Paul muttered. "There's nothing at all here."

But he was wrong. Boy was he wrong. Because I saw one of the screens spring to life.

"Come on," I pulled on his hands and dragged him along with me.

We stood in front of the screen, and a few movies started.

At least I thought they were movies.

They were different. Different scenes, different people, different faces. But somehow… the same.

The scenes all involved murders. One after another.

When a familiar scene started. It involved me and Dr. Slaski in the fire building, the moment I thought I was dying.

"What the…?"

Then there were two people with their backs to the camera. And it wasn't long before Paul and I realized that it was me and Paul there, our backs to some kind of camera.

We quickly turned around, and we saw that there was a camera pointed straight at us.

And beside it was Laurent. When he saw us staring at him, he quickly leaped somewhere to hide.

"Suze, stay here," Paul said as he started climbing the stairs to the room.

"No, Paul," I caught his wrist and stopped him.

"Its okay, Suze," Paul reassured me. "Let me go."

I hesitantly let go of his hand.

He finished walking all the stairs, and entered the room. After a few seconds, Paul appeared from the window.

"He's not here," he told me. I let out a sigh, there was no trouble there.

But there was trouble down here.

"Suze!" Paul yelled. "Behind you!"

I quickly whirled around, and leaped just in time before the ghost tried to slice a knife into my back.

I stumbled on the desks, and fell painfully on the floor. Before the ghost could hit me again, I quickly ran out of the room. I was out of the door in a flash, running away from my death.


	10. Chapter 10: Paul Slater's dead?

_**Chapter ten**_

I quickly ran at the top of my lungs. I tried opening any door I came across. So far, none opened. I tried opening the next door I came across, but it was also locked.

I ran until I came across another door. I quickly pulled on the knob, and thank goodness it opened. I quickly closed it behind me – though doors aren't a difference to ghosts – and ran through the room. I quickly stumbled through the room, until I came across another door. I quickly opened it, and closed it quietly behind me.

I thought I heard something trip from behind the door, and it was definitely wasn't me.

I quickly hid behind one of the wall pillars, and held my breath as I heard the door open. I tried to take a peek at who it was, but looked away quickly as I saw Laurent look my way. When I was sure he was in another place, I quickly went and hid behind the next pillar. The ghost came into view, and went back through searching.

I went to the final wall, and saw that there was a door close. When Laurent was out of sight, I quietly opened the door, and went into the room. I closed the door behind me, and walked into the room.

I hid behind one of the large stock of CDs, and waited. Nothing. The ghost didn't materialize in front of me, or even threaten to hurt me. Just… nothing.

I thought I heard banging, but maybe it was just my imagination.

Suddenly, I heard someone call my name. It was like a really loud "Suze!", like it was spoke from a microphone.

I ignored it, probably my brain playing tricks on me.

But I heard it again.

I turned around, and saw that this room was separated by glass to the other. And the cause of the sound, Paul was calling me from the other side.

"Paul," I asked as I looked at him. He was holding a microphone in his hand, and was panting.

"Suze, we have to get out of here," he said.

I nodded. He nodded too. I was about to head through the door, when a glimmer caught my attention.

"No," I whispered. Then my whisper turned into a yell. "Paul, behind you!"

Paul had a confused expression on his face.

I came closer to the glass. "He's behind you, Paul! Laurent is behind you!" I pointed to where skull-face now stood.

Skull-face took soundless steps towards Paul. I pointed again at Laurent.

But before Paul can even twitch, Laurent had him pinned to the glass. But Paul didn't give up without a fight.

I couldn't watch as Paul was trying to kick Laurent.

But I was more horror-struck when Laurent got a knife out of his pocket.

"Paul!" I screamed. "Knife!"

But Paul was too late. The ghost had Paul from his back and pinned his front body to the wall. And his knife…

His knife had been placed into Paul's back.

"Paul, no!" I squeaked. Blood streamed from Paul's mouth as he was slipping to the floor.

"No," I whimpered. Laurent fulfilled part of his mission; because Paul was dead.

And speaking of Laurent…

I started backing away as I saw that he was looking at me.

I don't know how, but I thought Laurent just smiled. He held the knife – that was now covered with Paul's blood – and sliced it through Paul's hand. I winced as I saw the blood.

The ghost kept on repeating this, and I had to sink down behind a desk, and cover my eyes. I cried quietly for a second, and then looked back at the ghost.

But he was gone. He still left a message though.

The words 'You're Next' were written on the glass with Paul's own blood.

***

I made sure there was no sign of the ghost before I peered through the door. When he was nowhere to be found, I quickly slipped out the door.

I made my way out of the hallway, and went to the front desk. I didn't dare look behind me at Paul's… body.

I flinched as that thought came into my head.

Unexpectedly, a tear fell down my cheek. I don't know why I was so sad. In some way, I always wanted Paul out of my way, but this was just… different. I guess in someway he was my friend, and I didn't want it to end this way.

I quickly wiped away the tear when I heard footsteps coming closer to me. I was in the reception, and I guess they were Jesse and Father Dom who were coming.

"Did you guys find anything?" I asked as they came into view.

"No," Father Dom replied, disappointed. "There is nothing here that can help us."

"_Querida_?" Jesse asked as he saw the expression in my face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, staring into space. "I'm fine."

Jesse came closer to me and placed his hands on both sides of my face, making me look at him.

"Are you sure?" he insisted "where's Paul?"

That when a tear slid down my cheek. "I-I guess the ghost can relax now a little. I mean, he's got one of his targets."

Jesse didn't need me to explain. He crushed me into his chest, and let me sob there.

When I was dried out – probably five minutes later – I whispered against Jesse's chest, "He really won't leave us alone. We have to do something."

Jesse kissed the back of my head, and muttered, "You're right. But what can we do?"

I leaned away from Jesse's chest to look at him. "How about if I shift? That could work."

Jesse frowned. "But doesn't that mean he has to be touching you?"

I shrugged. "I guess. But that won't be very hard to do."

Jesse didn't like it. "No, _querida_, there has got to be another way. I won't have you in danger."

I sighed. I wasn't going to sit around and do nothing.

"But Jesse," I whined. "Who knows what he'll do next? I have to stop him before it gets worst."

Jesse sighed. He didn't argue more; he just held my hand and dragged me out of the building.

"Jesse, what about Paul?" I asked, though it stung.

"We're going to get Dr. Slaski first, and then we see what we're going to do."

I sighed. "Fine, but you'll see that he would agree with me on this."

This time, Jesse sighed.

"Let's just go," Jesse said one more time before he opened the passenger door of his car to me.

I got in, and looked out the window as Jesse and Father Dom stared outside the window.

And thought I saw Laurent holding the knife he just murdered Paul Slater with.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter eleven**_

_**  
**_Jesse drove through Carmel's wide streets. But this time it wasn't a regular Carmel-by-the-sea drive, because there was a ghost haunting us; and now we saw what he can do.

Since he almost killed me and Dr. Slaski, and…

And the fact that he succeeded to kill Paul Slater.

I winced at the memory, and quickly thought of something else. I felt Jesse slip his hands through mine, trying to comfort me. I smiled at his reassuringly before he slipped his hand out of mine and started driving again.

We arrived at the hospital, and entered Dr. Slaski's room.

"What are you guys doing here?" Dr. Slaski muttered when he saw us.

"Dr. Slaski, do you have any solution to this ghost thing?" I asked, heading right to the point.

"I've been doing a little thinking," Dr. Slaski replied. "And I think the best thought was for you to shift him to the shadowland."

Yes. That was what I needed.

"So I'll do it," I said, feeling excited for the first time today.

"Oh no, you won't," Dr. Slaski interrupted. "I'll have none of that; let Paul do it."

"Why?" I complained. "Why not me? I'm seventeen like Paul; I'm a mediator/ shifter like Paul. Heck, I even hate skull-face just like Paul. So what's the difference? Just because I'm a girl doesn't –"

"Because," Dr. Slaski cut me off. "Paul is just more experienced."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell 'Paul Slater's dead!', but thought twice before doing so. I mean, Dr. Slaski is Paul's grandfather; and finding out his grandson's dead might give him a heart attack. And we wouldn't want that, now would we?

I took a deep breath, and started over. "But Paul can't help us right now, Dr. Slaski."

"Why?" he wanted to know. "Is he in Hawaii or something? Why can't Paul help us?"

"Because…" I couldn't say it, I really couldn't. "Because he…"

"Because he's dead," Jesse finished off for me in a tone cold as ice; and I was grateful to him. "Laurent got to him. That's why Susannah is unfortunately our only hope now."

Dr. Slaski was quiet for a moment. I regretted making Jesse say anything in the first place.

"He really would do anything wouldn't he?" Dr. Slaski muttered. I bit my bottom lip, and nodded.

"Then I guess it's up to you, Susan," Dr. Slaski agreed.

"Susannah," Me, Jesse and Father Dom corrected at the same time.

"Well," I asked as we were heading out of the room and into the hallway. "What are we gonna do?"

Jesse thought about that for a minute. He sighed, then said, "Fine, Susannah, you will shift. But…"

"Oh, not the 'buts'," I complained before he even got to say anything.

"Just hear me out," He urged. "But only if Laurent gets to touch you – and let's hope it doesn't happen."

"Do you wanna get rid of him or not?"

He sighed.

"I think what he means is," Father Dom pitched in. "That you can shift if the ghost has a chance of touching you, Susannah."

I was one the one to sigh. This was so unfair.

"Fine," I finally agreed. "I'll do it if he's the one who touched me."

We entered the car, and Jesse started driving to the building again.

We arrived in a few minutes, and Jesse parked in the parking lot. There weren't a lot of people around, which was a good sign.

We entered the empty building again, this time, looking for the ghost.

"Here ghosty, ghosty, ghosty," I whispered as if I was calling for my dog.

Jesse raised his scarred eyebrow at me.

"What?" I couldn't help whispered.

"He's not here," Father Dom said, breaking the silence. "Let's go somewhere else."

Jesse and I followed him as he walked out the door.

"Wait," I called out when I saw that I was going to forget my jacket. "I'm gonna get my jacket."

Jesse and Father Dom nodded, and waited for me. I walked through the hallway, and got my jacket off a chair.

On my way out, I heard the receptionist's telephone ring. I thought about answering, what could go wrong?

So I went to the front desk, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I said through the phone.

"Do you want to die tonight?" a deep voice said, and I was so shocked that I dropped the phone.

I quickly whirled behind me, and standing there was no one other than skull-face.

"So?" he repeated. "Do you want to die tonight?"

My heart skipped a beat.

"No, thank you," I replied, trying to keep the casualty in my voice. "I prefer my soul in my body."

"Too bad," he reached into his cloak pocket. "Because that will never happen."

The hand that was in his pocket came out with a knife. He quickly flung it my way, and I leaped out of the way just in time. The knife that was meant to go through my heart sunk into the wood of the desk.

I quickly got up, and headed to the door.

"Jesse!" I screamed as I was getting closer. Jesse looked around, and his eyes widened when he saw Laurent running behind me.

I was two feet away from the door, and Jesse was rushing up the stairs. But before any of us could touch each other, the door slammed shut.

I banged at the door. "Jesse!"

"Susannah!" I heard him yell on the other side.

The ghost flung his knife from behind me, and I fell out of the way. The knife sunk into the door, and I won't doubt that Jesse saw the blade from the other side.

I quickly got up as Laurent recovered himself, and looked out the window. Jesse was looking at me from behind the glass. I placed my hand above his, and a tear descended down my cheek.

I felt something grab the back of my t-shirt, and pull me away.

"No!" I screamed. Laurent pulled me back and threw me. I crashed on the chairs, and one of them broke underneath me. The wood chattered all around my body, and one of them was able to sink into my arm. I felt something stream from my nose, and realized it was blood.

"I hate being a mediator," I grumbled as the pain started.

Skull-face grabbed me from t-shirt, and spun me around from the floor to look at my face.

"See you in hell," were his last words before he extended his arm behind him.

I closed my eyes, and waited for the pain.

But nothing came.

I hear a loud crash on the ground.

I opened my eyes, and found Jesse and Laurent having a death struggles.

"Jesse!" I yelled in horror when Laurent pushed him and he crashed into the wooden chair.

I quickly got up, ignoring the stab of pain. I ran to where Jesse was, but Father Dom stopped me.

"Let me go, Father D.!" I shrieked. "I have to help him!"

"It's too dangerous Susannah," Father D. looked like he might get a heart attack. And it seemed he would get it soon. "Jesse can handle it; it's far too dangerous –"

But I didn't listen to him. I pulled my shoulder from under his hand, and ran to Jesse.

"No Susannah," Jesse yelled, but was interrupted when Laurent flung him to the front desk.

"Jesse," I mumbled as I reached him. I held his arm and tried pulling him up.

"Susannah," he cried when he was almost up. "You don't have to do this, this isn't your fight."

"Yes I do," I disagreed. "You are what I'm fighting for; I can't give up. I'll always love you –"

Jesse's legs gave up on him, and he collapsed on the broken wood, sending me on the ground with him.

"Forever," I completed my unfinished sentence.

"Forever," he agreed. I lent forward, and caught him in a kiss.

But before the kiss can get deeper, I was being pulled by my hair, and the ghost caught me in a grip. He held his knife to my throat.

"Say goodbye, Susannah," he said as if he were teaching a three-year-old manners.

"Say goodbye, skull-face," I shot back. I quickly closed my eyes, and thought of the place that I really hate going.

When I opened my eyes, I was there.

Laurent was so shocked, that he quickly let go of me as if I had suddenly turned on fire.

"What happened?" he yelled. "What is this place?"

I realized that the blood that had been sinking from my arm and nose disappeared.

"This," I happily replied, walking closer to him and noticing a door behind him. "is your doom, Laurent."

I opened the door behind him, and pushed him inside. The light was so bright, and it started taking me in with it.

Before the light can suck me in, I felt something hold my arm and pull me back.

"Shift!" I heard no one other than Paul Slater say. "Suze, shift!"

I closed my eyes, and thought of the building I was in a few minutes ago.

I opened my eyes, and found myself lying on the floor. Jesse had me on his lap, and had a concerned expression on his face.

"Susannah?" he asked gently.

"Unfortunately," I mumbled. Jesse sighed and pressed his lips against mine. I kissed him back, liking his lips being the first thing I touch from coming back from the shadowland.

We only separated when we heard Father Dom clear his voice from behind us.

We let out nervous giggles, and Jesse held me get up. I was having a major headache, and I didn't want to know what happened to skull-face.

"Is he gone?" Father D. asked.

"Yeah," I smiled. "He's gone."

They both let out a sigh of relief.

"You really shouldn't have endangered yourself like that, _querida_," Jesse said. "You should have let me handle it."

I was about to argue, when a voice stopped me, "If you ask me, I think Suze did a pretty good job."

My eyes widened, and my mouth dropped. I know that voice…

"Paul?" I whispered as I turned around. He was standing right in front of me, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. A grin crept across his face.

I ran up to him, and crashed into his chest.

"You're alive," I cried in happiness. He wrapped his arms around me.

"Wow, I should die more often," he said, a grin in his tone.

I rolled my eyes, and stepped away from him.

"No, you shouldn't," I argued. His grin got wider.

"Then you do care about me," he said happily.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I do. You are my friend, Paul, don't you think for one second that I don't care."

Paul smiled sweetly, though the glint in his eyes had doubt in them.

Just then, a tear slid down my cheek.

I pointed at the tear, and muttered, "Happy?"

"More than I thought I could ever," Paul replied. I felt Jesse pull his arm around my waist.

"Nice having you around again, Paul," he said, and I was surprised at the friendliness in his tone. "It'll be good having you around."

"Truce?" Paul held his hand in front of him.

"Sure," Jesse took Paul's hand, and they shook each other's hand.

I smiled as the two men looked friendly to each other for the first time.

"Wanna celebrate at my house?" Paul asked us all, including Father Dominic. "As a celebration of bringing Paul Slater back to life."

"You mean," I chuckled. "As a celebration for finally defeating skull-face."

"Fine," Paul grumbled.

We started walking out of the building, when we saw a glimmer of light.

We turned around, and found the other ghost's victims standing there.

"He is gone?" one of the guys asked. We all nodded.

"He is finally gone," Jennifer whispered. And she smiled for the first time.

They all started to fade.

"You can move on now," I told them.

They all started to disappear, one by one.

"Thank you," Jennifer whispered before she disappeared along with the others.

"Finally," Paul sighed. "Looks like all our missions are over."

"No," I disagreed. "We still have one more mission left."


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter twelve**_

I gazed at the moon, shining brightly in the deep blue sky. The stars had a nice touch to the theme, and were glowing.

"Suze?" a voice kept calling. I ignored it and kept on gazing.

"Suze?" it repeated. I sighed; I was so not in the mood for her.

"What Kelly?" I sighed as I turned around. Kelly Prescott was standing ever so gorgeously in front of me, a frown on her face.

"Uh, Suze, can you please snap out of planet-Suze and focus a little?" She demanded. "We need more punch here."

"How much punch can these people take?" I complained. "Besides, I'm not the only one working here."

"No, but you are the only one who doesn't have a date," she said harshly.

"Take it easy, Kells," Paul appeared from behind her. He put his hands around her waist. "Let Suze chill a little."

"No, its okay," I shot Kelly a smile she didn't deserve. "I'll be happy to get more punch."

I took the empty bowl off the table, and walked away from them. The second I turned around, my smile faded.

I entered the kitchen, and set the bowl on the table. I opened the fridge, and got out the bottle of punch. I held it, and set it on the table next to the bowl. I opened the bottle, and spilled in the punch.

I almost dropped the bottle, because then I saw a glow in the reflection on the fridge.

I quickly turned around, expecting skull-face. But sighed when I realized it was only Jennifer (the ghost in my dream, and the one who helped me).

"I'm sorry," She apologized once she saw how pale I had turned. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, its okay," I smiled softly. "I just didn't expect to see you. What happened? I thought you and the others moved on."

"The others did," she replied. "But I had to stay, because there was something I had to give you."

She held out her hand, a photo in it.

"What's this?" I asked as I reached out to grab it. It was a picture of me and Jesse.

"This fell off of your mirror when the ghost attacked you that night," she explained. I smiled at the sight of Jesse.

"Thanks, I guess," I replied, shoving the picture in my purse.

"Personally," she added. "I think you two look cute together."

I never noticed it before, but I realized that the blood that used to be all over her shirt was gone. Her blond hair was nicely combed, and her bright eyes were sparkling. She had tasteful makeup, and her clothes were clean from all the blood. Right now, she looked like a really friendly girl.

"Thanks," I said again.

"Oh, and nice dress," she complimented my light blue Jessica McClintock dress. My shoulder-length dark was lying gently on my shoulders.

"Again, thanks," I repeated.

"No, thank you," she said. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been here right now; talking to a live mediator."

"It was nothing," I assured her. I went over and sat on a nearby chair. "I would have done anything to kick that ghost's butt. So I enjoyed getting rid of him."

She grinned, and sat on a chair in front of me.

"I like talking to you," She admitted. "You're really sweet."

"Surprisingly," I smiled at her. "You're the friendliest ghost I have ever met."

Jennifer blushed. "Really? Because all my friends thought I was weird."

"How are they your friends if they thought you're weird?"

"Well, I kinda told one of them about my secret. And I guess it was the wrong person to tell; since she was like the gossip queen in my school. So when I went to school the other day, everybody was trash talking about me. So I guess that –"

"That she told everybody else what you told her," I finished her off. She nodded, and shrugged.

"It doesn't matter anyway," she shrugged. "She couldn't control who I was. And besides, the ghost attacked me about almost a week after being the gossip tool; so I guess it really didn't matter."

We sat in silence for a moment.

"How old are you, Jennifer?" I asked.

She smiled. "Eighteen. And you can just call me Jenn, everybody used to."

"Okay, so Jenn," I said. "Did you ever go to a prom before?"

"Yeah, I once went to my junior prom with my boyfriend," She replied, remembering that happy moment.

"Must be nice," I thought about me dancing with my boyfriend. The moon in the sky, the romantic music playing…

"Hey, this is your junior prom, right?" she asked, and I nodded. "Well," she continued. "Just enjoy it. I bet your date is looking for you right now."

I looked down at my hands. She was only right about the prom; but about my date? Nope, he wasn't here.

"Oh," she said once she realized what was really going on. "You don't have a date, do you?"

I shook my head.

"But I thought you had a boyfriend. The cute one with dark hair and dark eyes?"

"Yeah, that's him," I said. "But he has an important shift at the hospital today, so he couldn't make it."

Jenn comprehended that. "Sorry. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn't get to go to my senior prom; on account of my death."

"Don't say that, why would I be happy if a girl missed her own prom?" I pointed out.

"Because you're not having the time of your life at yours," Jenn pointed out.

"Maybe, but hey, there's always senior prom," I looked on the bright side.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Well, it was nice talking to you. And thanks again for what you did to the ghost."

I nodded and smiled. "You're ready to move on now."

She started fading. "Thank you, Susannah."

"You can just call me Suze," I told her before she disappeared; and this time for good.

I sighed, and got up. I held the bowl, and went back to where the prom was being held. I put the bowl on the table, and leaned on its edge.

"Hey, Suze," I heard Paul say from behind me. "Watcha doin'?"

I chuckled. "Nothing as you see. Where's your girlfriend?"

"In the Ladies' room," he replied, leaning on the table with me. "Again."

"You can't blame a girl for checking her makeup," I told him.

"I guess so," he said. "But you don't have to change anything, you look good just the way you are."

"I don't know what that was," I said. "But I'll take it as a compliment. Thanks."

"No," he argued. "I wanted to thank you. You did a pretty good job with skull-face."

"Thanks," I smiled. "And for a personal tip; I invented skull-face as a name for Laurent."

Paul grinned. "I know, and I took it from you."

I playfully punched his shoulder. Kelly came out of the bathroom then.

"You better go," I told him. "Miss Popularity awaits."

He rolled his eyes at me, and went over to his date. He caught her, and walked with her to the dance floor.

A slow song started, and the couples started dancing. Paul caught Kelly in his arms, and started swaying with her.

Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore.

I slipped out of the courtyard, and walked through the breezeway. I made my way out till I reached the area behind the school where there was another fountain.

The grass looked nice under the moon; and the fountain matched the scene. There were a few benches around the fountain, and I went and sat on one of them.

I gazed dreamingly at the view, and thought about Jesse. He must be in the hospital now, talking to that important doctor who was thinking about giving him a scholarship.

I looked at the picture of us, and smiled.

Yeah, Jesse has a future, unlike me.

"What is a beautiful girl like you doing sitting all alone?" a sweet voice said from behind me.

I dropped the picture.

I stood up and turned around; and found Jesse standing a few feet away from me in a handsome tuxedo.

A smile crept across my face. "Jesse? What are you doing here? I thought you had an interview with that college medical guy."

"I did," he said. He took a few steps towards me. "But you are more important to me than an interview, _querida_."

"Really?" I smiled. He was standing right in front of me now.

"Really," he kissed my forehead, and caught me in an embrace.

The slow music was coming from the courtyard. Jesse put his hands around my waist, and started swaying.

I placed my hands around his neck, and swayed with him.

"What did you tell the doctor?" I asked him, starting a conversation.

"All I had to say," he replied. "Was that you were at your prom, and that you don't have a date."

"But I do know," I corrected. He bent down, and connected our mouths together. I enjoyed the feeling of his lips against mine. We still danced as the kiss got deeper and deeper.

Once he pulled away, we were both breathless.

"Next time," I told him. "You do the interview first, and then come to my rescue."

"Fine, _querida_," he agreed.

He swayed me till we got close enough to one of the benches. Jesse bent down and grabbed something from the bench.

He held a rose in front of me. I took it from him, and gazed at it dreamily.

"You're more beautiful than a rose," Jesse informed me.

"Thanks," I slipped the rose into my hair, forming a nice clip.

We started swaying again.

"Have I mentioned that you look beautiful tonight?" he asked.

"No, but I will tell you now that you look extremely handsome in that tux," I told him. He bent down and caught me in another kiss.

"I love you," he whispered against my lips.

"I love you too," I repeated against his.

We danced for the rest of the night, Jesse in my arms. Nothing could ruin this moment.


End file.
